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Bypoll Results: Vote Counting Underway In Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand And Tamil Nadu

Counting of votes for the byelections in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand started at 8 am this morning.

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Besides the high-stake assembly poll results in three northeastern states including Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya, today four bypoll results are awaited as well.

Counting of votes for the byelections in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand started at 8 am this morning.

Maharashtra bypoll results

Counting of votes for the byelections to Kasba and Chinchwad Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra's Pune district began at 8 am on Thursday amid heavy police security, an official said.

The bypolls for the two seats held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took place on February 26, registering an average voter turnout of 50 per cent.

The byelections were necessitated due to the death of incumbent BJP MLAs Mukta Tilak (Kasba) and Laxman Jagtap (Chinchwad).

These polls pitted the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).

The main contenders in the Kasba constiutency, located in the old area of Pune city, are Hemant Rasane of the BJP and Ravindra Dhangekar of the Congress (backed by the MVA).

In Chinchwad, an industrial town near Pune, the fight is between Ashwini Jagtap of the BJP, Nana Kate of the NCP and independent Rahul Kalate.

The Kasba bypoll counting was being held at the Food Corporation of India warehouse in Koregaon Park, while that for Chinchwad Assembly seat was underway at Shankarao Gawade Kamgar Bhavan in Thergaon, the official said.

There would be 20 counting rounds for the Kasba seat and 37 rounds for the Chinchwad seat. 

Heavy police security has been deployed at the counting centres.

Counting of votes underway in Sagardighi assembly in West Bengal

Counting of votes for the by-election in West Bengal's Sagardighi assembly constituency in Murshidabad district began at 8 am on Thursday amid tight security, an official said.

Candidates of the ruling Trinamool Congress, opposition BJP and the Congress-Left alliance are the main contestants.

The TMC and BJP fielded Debashish Banerjee and Dilip Saha, respectively, while the Left-supported Congress candidate is Bayron Biswas.

The bypoll to the Sagardighi assembly seat was necessitated due to the death of three-time TMC MLA and state minister Subrata Saha in December last year.

Apart from more than 60 per cent minority population, the rural constituency has around 18.5 per cent Scheduled Caste and 6.5 per cent Scheduled Tribe population. It has approximately 2.3 lakh voters.

Over 73 per cent voter turnout was recorded when polling was held on February 27.

 TN's Erode East Assembly bypolls

Counting of votes polled in the bypoll to the Erode East Assembly constituency began at 8 AM here on Thursday amid tight security. 

While 77 candidates are in the fray, the main contest is between former Union Minister E V K S Elangovan of the Congress backed by the ruling DMK and AIADMK's K S Thennarasu, a former legislator. Naam Tamilar Katchi's N Menaka and DMDK's S Anand are among the other candidates.  

Tight security was provided in and around the counting centre, officials said.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA E Thirumagan Everaa on January 4. 

Nearly 75 per cent votes were polled in the by-election held on February 27.

Ramgarh bypoll: AJSU leads by 5,838 votes after first round of counting

AJSU party candidate Sunita Choudhary was leading by 5,838 votes over her nearest Congress rival  Bajrang Mahto after the first round of counting in the Ramgarh by-election, an official said on Thursday. 

AJSU Party, which has tied up with the BJP for the bypoll, got 12,910 votes, while Congress, an ally of the ruling JMM-led coalition, received 7,072 in the first round, the official said.  

Counting of votes for the Ramgarh assembly by-election began around at 8 am at Ramgarh college, some 40 km from the state capital Ranchi, said Ramgarh SDO cum Returning officer Md Javed Hussain.

"Counting of votes is being carried out by 120 personnel including counting observers, assistants and counting supervisors at 40 tables and will be completed in 11 rounds," Hussain told PTI.

A voter turnout of over 67.96 per cent was recorded in the Ramgarh assembly constituency bypoll on February 27.

Though 18 candidates, including 14 Independents, were in the fray, the contest is mainly between the Congress, an ally of the ruling JMM-led coalition, and the AJSU Party, which has tied up with the BJP for the bypoll.

The by-election was necessitated after the disqualification of Congress legislator Mamta Devi, following her conviction in a criminal case.

The Congress has fielded Mamta Devi’s husband, Bajrang Mahto, from the seat while the AJSU Party has nominated its leader Sunita Choudhary.

(With PTI Inputs)