Assembly bypolls held in six States; heavy turnout in Telangana’s Munugode

The polls were held at Mokama and Gopalganj in Bihar, Andheri (East) in Maharashtra, Adampur in Haryana, Munugode in Telangana, Gola Gokarannath in Uttar Pradesh, and Dhamnagar in Odisha Andheri (East) sees the lowest turnout of 31.74%

By-elections to seven Assembly constituencies in six States, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, were held on Thursday with Andheri (East) registering 31.74% polling and Telangana’s Munugode recording a heavy turnout.

The polls were held in Mokama and Gopalganj constituencies in Bihar, Andheri (East) in Maharashtra, Adampur in Haryana, Munugode in Telangana, Gola Gokarannath in Uttar Pradesh, and Dhamnagar in Odisha.

Among the seven seats where the byelections were held, the BJP was in power in three seats and the Congress in two, while the Shiv Sena and the RJD held one each. Counting will take place on November 6.

The polls in Mokama and Gopalganj passed off peacefully with 53.45% and 51.48% turnout respectively, which was however low compared to the 2020 Assembly elections when the turnout in Mokama was 54.1% and 55.3% in Gopalganj.

At Gola Gokarannath, the bypoll ended amid allegations by the Samajwadi Party that some polling centres were captured by BJP supporters who drove away SP voters.

The seat is likely to see increase in voting percentage compared to the 2022 polls as the latest figures by the Election Commission (EC) till 5 p.m. recorded 55.68% polling, which is 7% more than the last Assembly election.

The first electoral test for the newly appointed BJP State president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and General Secretary (Organisation) Dharampal, the by-election was necessitated by the death of sitting BJP MLA Arvind Giri in September.