Bypoll Election Results 2023: The counting of votes for the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency in Punjab and four Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Meghalaya will begin soon. The voting was held on May 10. The counting will begin at 8 am to decide the fate of the candidates contesting the polls. The assembly constituencies are Chhanbey and Suar in Uttar Pradesh, Jharsuguda in Odisha, and Sohiong in Meghalaya.
Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency
For the high-stakes Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency the fight is between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The bypoll result will also be seen as the one-year performance of the Bhagwant Mann government.
The Jalandhar parliamentary constituency fell vacant after Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary died following a cardiac arrest during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 14 this year.
Former MLA Sushil Rinku, who quit the Congress to join the ruling party, contested as AAP’s candidate while the Congress has pitted Karamjit Kaur, the wife of Santokh Chaudhary. The BJP had fielded Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, a Dalit Sikh, who quit the Shiromani Akali Dal and the SAD has shown its faith in two-time MLA from Banga seat Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, who is a doctor.
Suar Assembly constituency, Rampur, UP
In Uttar Pradesh, tough competition is between the BJP-led ruling coalition and the Samajwadi Party (SP), the main opposition. Rampur’s Suar assembly seat is a stronghold of SP and party leader Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Khan have campaigned for the party while BJP left the seat for its ally Apna Dal (S).
The Suar seat was held by Abdullah Azam Khan, who had to vacant after a Moradabad court sentenced the MP to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case. In the 2022 UP elections, Abdullah Khan had defeated Apna Dal (Sonelal)’s Haidar Ali Khan by a margin of over 61,000 votes.
The SP had given the ticket to Anuradha Chauhan from the seat and Apna Dal (Sonelal) named Shafeek Ahmed Ansari. The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress had decided not to contest the election.
Chhanbey Assembly constituency, Mirzapur, UP
The seat was vacant after Chhanbey’s MLA Rahul Prakash Kol of Apna Dal (Soneylal) passed away in February after prolonged cancer. The party had fielded Kol’s wife Rinki Kol while Kirti Kol, daughter of former lawmaker Bhai Lal Kol is contesting as the SP candidate. A total of eight candidates are in the fray for this seat.
Jharsuguda Assembly constituency, Odisha
A total of nine candidates are in the fray for this seat. However, the contest is mainly between the BJD, BJP and Congress. BJD had fielded Das’s daughter Deepali Das while BJP nominated Tankadhar Tripathy. Congress had fielded Tarun Pandey, the son of late MLA Biren Pandey.
The by-election was necessitated following the murder of sitting MLA and the then Health Minister of the state Naba Kishore Das on January 29 this year.
Sohiong Assembly constituency, Meghalaya
Sohiong Assembly seat was vacant after the death of United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate HDR Lyngdoh on February 27 this year.
A total of six candidates, Synshar Lyngdoh Thabah of the UDP, Samlin Malngiang of the National People’s Party (NPP), S Osborne Kharjana of the Congress, Sandondor Ryntathiang of the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP), Sereph E Kharbuki of the BJP, and Stodingstar Thabah of the TMC, are in the fray.