Bypolls in Uttar Pradesh: The results of the nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh are expected to come out today. Counting is underway. About 49.3 per cent of voters cast their votes in bypolls to nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh with Ghaziabad logging just 33 per cent. The state had recorded an overall turnout of 61.03 per cent in the 2022 assembly polls. The voter turnout in Ghaziabad was 33.3 per cent, Katehari (56.9 per cent), Khair (46.3 per cent), Kundarki (57.7 per cent), Karhal (54.1 per cent), Majhawan (50.41 per cent), Meerapur (57.1 per cent), Phulpur (43.43 per cent) and Shisamau (49.1 per cent).
While eight seats fell vacant following the incumbent MLAs' election to the Lok Sabha, polling in Sisamau is being conducted due to Samajwadi Party lawmaker Irfan Solanki's disqualification from the assembly after his conviction in a criminal case. The Congress is not contesting these bypolls and has lent support to the Samajwadi Party, its INDIA bloc ally. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting on all nine seats solo.
Candidates: Ninety candidates are in the fray for the bypolls. Ghaziabad has the most candidates in the fray with 14, followed by Khair and Sisamau with five each. Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has fielded candidates from Ghaziabad, Kundarki and Mirapur while Chandrashekhar Azad-led Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) is contesting on all seats except Sisamau.
Incidents of violence: Meanwhile, the Election Commission, acting on complaints by the Samajwadi Party, has ordered the suspension of police personnel for violating its guidelines on checking of voters and stopping them from casting votes in the bypolls. At least four cops on poll duty were suspended in Kanpur and Muzaffarnagar, according to officials. In Moradabad, an unknown number of personnel on traffic duty were shunted, they said. The Samajwadi Party claimed that in some places the police personnel were checking the IDs of people and deterring them from voting. The BJP has also sought the intervention of the EC for checking identity of burqa-wearing women voters, claiming their IDs did not match with their faces.
