New Delhi: Counting of votes for by-elections to five Assembly seats across Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry, along with one Lok Sabha constituency in Assam, began on Friday, October 9. The results are expected to offer an electoral indicator for the parties contesting the bypolls.
In Tamil Nadu, votes are being counted for the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies. The results are being closely watched as an early electoral test for Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government. The counting of votes began at 8 am today. Postal ballots are being counted first, followed by votes recorded in electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Key Battle For TVK Govt
Both constituencies, reserved for Scheduled Castes, went to the polls on October 6 after an intensive campaign involving leaders from the ruling party and the Opposition. The contests are important for TVK, which secured 108 seats in the Assembly elections, falling short of the 118 seats required for a majority.
In West Bengal, counting is underway for the Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district and Rejinagar in Murshidabad district. Voting in both constituencies was conducted under heightened security arrangements.
Nandigram has attracted particular attention after Sanchita Pradhan Dey, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate, withdrew her nomination at the last moment. The development has fuelled expectations of a possible victory for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Hasi Rani Rath.
Dey is the mother of Chandranath Rath, personal assistant to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who was killed in Madhyamgram on May 6. Adhikari had earlier said that the BJP candidate’s victory margin in the Nandigram bypoll could exceed the margin he secured from the constituency in 2016.
Vote Counting Begins In Puducherry & Assam
In Puducherry, votes are being counted for the Thattanchavady Assembly constituency, while Assam’s Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency is also witnessing counting for its by-election.
The results across the six constituencies will determine the electoral fortunes of the candidates and parties involved. The outcome of the Tamil Nadu contests will be particularly important for the ruling TVK government, while the West Bengal results are being watched amid the political contest between the TMC and BJP.
