Voter turnout in 6 assembly seats: Rampur lowest till 11 am

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Monday recorded the highest voter turnout in Chhattisgarh's Bhanupratappur assembly seat. Voter turnout in Rampur was still recorded as the lowest at 11 am.

Chhattisgarh's Bhanupratappur has recorded 31.27 pc voter turnout till 11 am today where Congress has fielded the wife of former MLA Manoj Singh Mandavi, whose demise resulted in the vacancy of the seat.

The voting for the by-elections for the six assembly seats in Bihar's Kurhani, Odisha's Padampur, Rajasthan's Sardarshahar and Rampur and Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh is underway.

The Kurhani assembly seat recorded a 24 pc voter turnout, where the disqualification of RJD MLA Anil Kumar Sahani prompted the polls. In Odisha's Padampur, a voter turnout of 29.73 pc was recorded.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Khatauli seat observed a voting turnout of 20.70 pc, whereas its Rampur assembly seat saw it at 11.30 per cent till 11 am. The bypolls Rampur Sadar and Khatauli were necessitated after SP MLA Azam Khan and BJP MLA Vikram Singh Saini were disqualified in separate cases.

Notably, Khan was disqualified in a hate speech case and the BJP MLA Saini after his conviction and sentence of two-year imprisonment in a 2013 riot case was also disqualified. "Barbarism being done and people being arrested, beaten up.

Police are going to colonies and telling people not to step out to vote. People in one colony locked up their houses and migrated in fear. They are saying it everywhere not to cast votes," Azam Khan said. BJP has fielded Rajkumari Saini on the Khatauli seat while Madan Bhaiya is RLD-SP's candidate.

Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party are out of the by-polls race. In Rajasthan, the death of Congress MLA Bhanwar Lal Sharma after a prolonged illness necessitated the polls in Sardarshahar and the voting turnout here was recorded at 19.87 pc.

Polling is underway in UP's Mainpuri Assembly seat as well where the Samajwadi Party has fielded Dimple Yadav at its stronghold seat after the demise of party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav in October.