Lucknow, Nov 23 (UNI) In the counting of votes for by-elections held on nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in six out of nine seats, while Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates are leading in three till 12 noon on Saturday.
State Chief Election Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said that voting for by-elections held for Mirapur in Muzaffarnagar, Kundarki in Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Khair reserved in Aligarh, Karhal in Mainpuri, Sisamau in Kanpur, Phulpur in Prayagraj, Katehari in Ambedkar Nagar and Majhawan assembly seat in Mirzapur started at 8 AM amid three-tier security arrangements.
According to the information received from the Election Commission, after the 17th phase of counting of votes on Sisamau assembly seat in Kanpur, SP candidate Naseem Solanki was leading by about 15 thousand votes over his nearest rival BJP's Suresh Awasthi, while on Karhal seat of Mainpuri, SP's Tej Pratap was ahead of BJP's Anujesh Pratap by 20,730 votes.
BJP candidate Sanjeev Sharma from Ghaziabad seat was leading by 30,267 votes over his nearest rival SP candidate till the end of the ninth round, while Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate Mithlesh Pal from Mirapur seat of Muzaffarnagar was leading by 17,512 votes after the sixth round.
BJP candidate Ranveer Singh from the Kundarki seat of Moradabad was leading by 33,791 votes till the end of the seventh round, while BJP candidate Surendra Diler from Khair seat of Aligarh was leading by 17,106 votes in the tenth round.
BJP candidate Deepak Patel from the Phulpur seat was leading by 1,937 votes over the SP candidate till the end of the seventh round, while SP candidate Shobhavati Verma from the Katehari seat of Ambedka Nnagar was leading by 2,610 votes in the sixth round.
BJP candidate Suchismita Maurya from Majhawan seat of Mirzapur was leading by 6,012 votes till the end of the 10th round. There is a direct contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) on all the seats, although the candidates of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) can have an impact on the election results. BJP candidates are contesting on eight seats while the candidate of its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is trying his luck on the Meerapur seat.
Two candidates of the Yadav family are face to face in Karhal assembly of Mainpuri. Known as the stronghold of SP, this seat fell vacant due to the election of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav as an MP. This time BJP has fielded Anuj Singh, a relative of the Saifai family, on this seat where he is pitted against Akhilesh Yadav's nephew Tej Pratap Yadav.
Apart from this, everyone's eyes are on the Sisamau seat of Kanpur where a by-election has been held due to the conviction of SP MLA Irfan Solanki. Here Irfan's wife Naseem Solanki is pitted against BJP's Suresh Awasthi.
It may be noted that in the by-election held on November 20, the highest 57.7 percent voters exercised their franchise in the Kundarki assembly constituency of Moradabad while the lowest voting was 33.3 percent in Ghaziabad assembly constituency. Apart from this, 57.3 percent of voters were cast in the Mirapur assembly constituency of Muzaffarnagar, 56.9 percent in Katehari (Ambedkarnagar), 54.1 percent in Karhal (Mainpuri), 50.4 percent in Majhawan (Mirzapur), 49.1 percent in Sisamau (Kanpur), 46 percent in Khair (Aligarh).
UNI TEAM AB BD