UP records 49.3% polling in by-elections; exit polls predict BJP to win maximum seats
An estimated 49.3% of the 34.35 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the by-elections for the nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday.
The BJP has pitted Ashok Mandal against Trinamul Congress’ Udayan Guho for the byelections in Dinhata in Cooch behar district. Mr Mandal was elected MLA on an All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) ticket from Dinhata in 2006, and significantly he had defeated Mr Guho when he had contested the Assembly polls on a Forward Bloc ticket.
Interestingly, Mr Mandal had joined hands with the BJP after 2016, and is now the vice-president of the Cooch Behar district BJP committee. According to the Cooch Behar BJP district president, Malati Rava, Mr Mandal will file his nomination papers tomorrow. Notably, Mr Guho filed his nomination papers for the polls today. Mr Guho was defeated by Cooch Behar MP Nisith Pramanik as he contested as an MLA candidate in 2021.
As the AITC came to power, Mr Pramanik resigned from the MLA post after he was inducted as the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs. While both Mr Mandal and Mr Guho are confident of winning the by-polls, political observers predict the results in favour of the AITC as it has come to power in the state, and three party candidates, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, have won by-elections recently.
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The observers here also said that “sabotage” was the reason behind the defeat of Mr Guho in 2006, when the Left Front bagged 235 seats. The CPIM bagged 176 seats, Forward Bloc won 23, RSP 20, CPI eight and other partners won the remaining.
On the other hand, Congress bagged 21 seats and AITC won 30 seats. In 2016, the AITC bagged 211 seats and 213 seats in 2021. After a few BJP MLAs, including Mukul Roy, joined the AITC, Mamata Banerjee’s party won three more seats in the recently-concluded by-polls in the state.
By-elections will be held for four more seats on 30 October. The AITC, according to sources, has planned to increase its present number of MLAs by winning the bypolls and by taking in MLAs from the BJP camp.
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