Lucknow: The counting of votes for nine Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will take place on Saturday, following by-polls held on November 20. The overall voter turnout stood at 49.3 per cent, according to the Election Commission. Polling was conducted from 7 am to 5 pm in Katehari, Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki. Ghaziabad recorded the lowest turnout at 33.3 per cent while Kundarki saw the highest at 57.7 per cent.
Other turnout figures included Katehari at 56.9 per cent, Karhal at 54.1 per cent, Majhawan at 50.41 per cent, Meerapur at 57.1 per cent, Phulpur at 43.43 per cent, Khair at 46.3 per cent, and Sisamau at 49.1 per cent. These bypolls were necessitated after eight sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha. In Sisamau, voting was held following the disqualification of Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Irfan Solanki after his conviction in a criminal case.
This marks the first electoral contest in the state since the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress, an ally of the SP in the INDIA bloc, chose not to field candidates, extending support to the SP. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contested all nine seats independently, while the AIMIM fielded candidates in Ghaziabad, Kundarki and Meerapur. Chandrashekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) contested all seats except Sisamau.
Over 34.35 lakh voters, including 15.88 lakh women, were eligible to vote. Ninety candidates were in the fray, with Ghaziabad fielding the most (14), followed by Khair and Sisamau (five each).
Currently, the BJP holds a majority with 251 MLAs in the 403-member Assembly. Its allies, including Apna Dal (Sonelal) and RLD, add further strength. The SP has 105 members, while the Congress and BSP have two and one MLA respectively.
