Uttar Pradesh assembly bypolls: Amid allegations and counter-allegations, voter turnout 49.3%

Amid allegations and counter-allegations between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders, Uttar Pradesh recorded 49.3% voter turnout for the bypolls to nine assembly constituencies on Wednesday, a decline of around 13% in comparison to the 2022 polling percentage of 62.49% for the same seats.

Kundarki recorded the highest voter turnout of 57.7% while the Ghaziabad seat, an urban hub, registered the lowest polling of 33.3%.

With stakes high, top BJP and SP leaders kept tabs on polling through out the day, collecting feedback from party workers and lodged complaints with the Election Commission of India if any irregularities were reported.

Samajwadi Party leaders objected to the checking of voter identity cards by police personnel while the BJP demanded checking the identity of burqa-clad women voters, claiming their IDs did not match their faces.

Taking cognizance of complaints, the ECI suspended five police personnel who were on poll duty in various constituencies.

Except a few instances of clashes and stone-pelting between BJP and SP supporters, there was no report of any major incident.

Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa said the bypoll in the nine assembly constituencies concluded peacefully and there was no report of untoward incident from anywhere.

Polling started on a slow note on Wednesday morning, but gradually picked up as the day progressed. Till 9am, 9.67% votes were polled, 20.51% by 11am, 31.21% till 1pm and 41.92% till 3pm.

The nine seats in which polling was held included Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Kundarki (Moradabad), Ghaziabad (Ghaziabad), Khair (SC) (Aligarh), Karhal (Mainpuri), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Phulpur (Prayagraj), Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar) and Majhawan (Mirzapur).

A total 90 of candidates are in the fray. Votes will be counted on November 23.

Among these nine seats, the BJP had won three in the 2022 assembly election. One seat each was won by its ally NISHAD party and RLD while the SP bagged four seats. In 2022, the RLD was an SP ally, but is now with the BJP.

In Meerapur, 57.1% voter turnout was reported against 68.95% polling in the 2022 assembly election. The seat was vacated by sitting RLD MLA Chandan Chauhan, who won the Bijnor Lok Sabha seat. The RLD has fielded Mithilesh Pal, the SP Sumbul Rana and the BSP Shah Nazar.

In Kundarki, 57.7% polling was reported on Wednesday against 71.42% voter turnout in the 2022 assembly election.

The Kundarki assembly seat was vacated after sitting SP MLA Ziaur Rahman Barq won the Sambhal Lok Sabha seat. The BJP fielded Ramveer Singh, the SP former MLA Mohammad Rizwan and the BSP nominated Rafatullah.

Ghaziabad recorded the lowest voter turnout of 33.3% on Wednesday compared to 51.78% in 2022. The seat was vacated when sitting MLA Atul Garg was elected to the Lok Sabha from Ghaziabad. The BJP fielded Sanjeev Sharma, the SP nominated Singh Raj Jatav, a Dalit candidate, and the BSP gave the ticket to Parmanand Garg.

The Khair reserved constituency in Aligarh recorded 46.3% voter turnout on Wednesday compared to 62.08% polling in 2022. The seat was vacated after the election of sitting BJP MLA Anoop Pradhan Valmiki to the Lok Sabha from Hathras. The BJP fielded Surendra Diler, the SP Charu Ken and the BSP Pahal Singh.

The high-profile Karhal seated recorded 54.1% polling on Wednesday compared to 66.11% voter turnout in 2022. The seat fell vacant after the election of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj . The SP fielded Tej Pratap Yadav, nephew of Akhilesh Yadav, while the BJP nominated Anujesh Yadav, brother-in-law of Dharmendra Yadav, SP MP from Azamgarh. Avnish Kumar Shakya was the BSP’s pick.

In Sisamau, 49.1% polling was recorded on Wednesday against 57.17 % in 2022. The seat fell vacant after disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki who was sentenced by a court in a criminal case. The BJP fielded Suresh Awasthi, the SP Irfan Solanki’s wife Naseem Solanki and the BSP Virendra Kumar Shukla.

Phulpur recorded 43.4% voter turnout against 60.38% in 2022. The seat was vacated after the election of sitting MLA Parveen Patel from the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP fielded Deepak Patel, the SP Mujtaba Siddiqui and the BSP Jitendra Kumar Singh.

Katehari recorded 56.9% voter turnout on Wednesday in comparison to 62.84% polling in 2022. The seat fell vacant after the election of Lalji Verma to the Lok Sabha seat. The SP fielded his wife Shobhawati Verma while the BJP gave the party ticket to Dharamraj Nishad. The BSP nominated Amit Verma.

Manjhawan recorded 50.4% polling on Wednesday compared to 61.72% in 2022. The assembly seat fell vacant after sitting MLA Vinod Kumar Bind of NISHAD party was elected to the Lok Sabha seat from Bhadohi on the BJP ticket. The BJP fielded Suchismita Maurya, the SP Jyoti Bind and the BSP Deepak Tiwari.

The BJP-led NDA government in UP has a comfortable majority of 283 seats in the legislative assembly. The results of the by-polls will not make any difference to the survival of the government. The SP -led INDIA bloc has 107 seats.

Nevertheless, the by-elections is crucial for the BJP after it suffered a setback in the Lok Sabha in UP where its tally was reduced to 33 seats in 2024 from 62 in 2019.