By-election results: Counting of votes continues for 13 assembly seats in 7 states

The results of by-elections on 13 assembly seats in seven states will be declared on Saturday. Counting of votes began at 8 am in key seats of West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Bihar.

Polling was held on July 10 for by-elections on 13 assembly seats in seven states. These seats recorded medium to high percentage of voting. According to the Election Commission’s Voter Turnout App, the Vikravandi assembly seat in Tamil Nadu recorded the highest polling percentage and the Badrinath seat in Uttarakhand had the lowest turnout. The by-elections were held due to vacancies caused by the death or resignation of sitting MLAs of various parties.By-election results: Counting of votes continues for 13 assembly seats in 7 states.

The assembly seats where polling was held include Raiganj, Ranaghat South, Bagdah and Maniktala in West Bengal; Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh; Badrinath and Mangalore in Uttarakhand; Jalandhar West in Punjab; Rupauli in Bihar; Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu and Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh. Four of these states are ruled by India Alliance constituents while the rest are ruled by the BJP or NDA.

These by-elections are the first by-elections since the Lok Sabha elections, in which constituents of the ruling BJP and opposition India Bloc are vying for seats. Sporadic violence was witnessed on polling day in Uttarakhand and West Bengal, but the overall polling percentage was high.

The by-elections held for four assembly constituencies in West Bengal saw 62.71 per cent polling. The by-elections in West Bengal became necessary because Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj, Biswajit Das from Bagdah and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat South had given up their seats to contest the Lok Sabha elections.