Voting in bypolls to Lok Sabha seats of Warangal (SC) in Telangana and Ratlam (ST) in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday recorded over 65 % and 59 % turnout respectively. Congress and BJP are pitted against each other and also the regional parties. The polling in both the constituencies was by and large peaceful, election officials said.
Citing information available till around 6 PM, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Bhanwar Lal told PTI that the final voting figure in Warangal would be more than 65 %. Polling started at 7 AM amid tight security and voters who were in queue at 5 PM (closing time for balloting) were allowed to exercise their franchise.
In the morning, polling officials welcomed the first voters at several booths by giving them flowers to encourage the electorate to turn up in large numbers. He said the polling passed off peacefully without any untoward incident reported from the constituency, about 130 km from Hyderabad, which witnessed a multi-cornered contest among the ruling TRS, Opposition Congress, BJP-TDP combine and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
Though 23 candidates are in the fray, the main contest is considered to be among the TRS candidate P Dayakar, former Union Minister Sarve Satyanarayana (Congress), BJP's P Devaiah on behalf the BJP-TDP combine and N Suryaprakash of YSRCP. Keen on retaining the seat, the TRS appointed State Ministers as in-charge for campaign in the Assembly segments falling under the Lok Sabha constituency. TRS President and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao also addressed a rally.
The by-election in Warangal was necessitated following the resignation of TRS MP Kadiam Srihari after he became Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana.
Meanwhile, the Ratlam Lok Sabha constituency, about 240 km from Bhopal, recorded 59.46 % polling, Chief Electoral Officer Saleena Singh said. By-election was also held in Dewas Assembly segment, where the voter turnout was 62.03 %, she said, adding barring a few incidents, both by-elections passed off peacefully amid tight security. In Ratlam, eight candidates, including Kantilal Bhuria of Congress and Nirmala Bhuria of BJP, are in the fray.
Though the main fight is considered to be between ruling BJP and main Opposition Congress, the JD(U), buoyed by the success of grand alliance in Bihar, put up its candidate Vijay Haari with support from CPI, CPI-M, Gondwana Gantantra Party and Bahujan Sangarsh Dal.
The Ratlam bypoll was necessitated due to the death of BJP MP Dilip Singh Bhuria, the father of Nirmala. Counting of votes will take place on November 24.
