Less than 20% turnout in UP LS bypolls so far, Bihar records 22%
March 11, 2018  13:34
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A 16.80 per cent voter turnout in Gorakhpur and a 12.20 per cent in Phulpur was recorded till 11 am today for the Lok Sabha by-election.

Meanwhile in Bihar, 22.42 per cent voter turnout in Araria Lok Sabha bypoll, while 20.3 per cent in Bhabua and 19.2 per cent in Jahanabad assembly bypolls was recorded till 11 am.

The bypoll in UP was necessitated after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated their seats in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, respectively, on taking office.

For Gorakhpur, the key contenders are Upendra Shukla from Bharatiya Janata Party, Praveen Nishad from Samajwadi Party and Surhita Chatterjee Karim from Congress.

Candidates in the fray for the Phulpur seat are Kaushalendra Singh Patel from the BJP, Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel from SP and Manish Mishra from Congress.

For these bypolls, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the SP have set aside their rivalry to join forces.

In Bihar, the bypolls are being seen as a litmus test for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after he pulled out of the state's grand alliance and joined the BJP.

The Araria seat fell vacant after the death of Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Mohammad Taslimuddin. The key contenders for the seat are RJD's Sarafaraz Alam, Taslimuddin's son, and the BJP's Pradip Singh.

The Bhabua assembly seat got vacant after the death of BJP's Anand Bhushan Pandey, and the party has fielded his widow Rinki Rani Pandey. Another key candidate for the seat is Shambhu Patel from Congress.

The death of RJD MLA Mundrika Singh Yadav necessitated the bypoll for Jehanabad seat, and his son Uday Yadav is contesting for the seat. Another key candidate in the fray is JDU's Abhiram Sharma.

The results will be declared on March 14.    -- ANI
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