The bypolls held for one seat each in Delhi and Andhra Pradesh and two seats in Goa on Wednesday ended on a peaceful note.
“The entire polling process went on peacefully and no untoward incident was reported from any part of the constituency in north-west Delhi,” said Chandra Bhushan Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi. The AAP, BJP and the Congress had been locked in a triangular contest.
He said an EVM and 17 VVPAT equipment malfunctioned and were replaced without any hindrance to voting. The officials conjectured that multiple elections taking place in the city in quick succession could be a factor for only 45% turnout, adding that voter turnout was “generally low” in bypolls.
A high voter turnout of about 80% was recorded in the by-election to the Nandyal Assembly in Andhra Pradesh, where the ruling TDP and the Opposition YSR Congress (YSRC) were locked in a fierce battle. The result will be widely seen as a pointer for the general and Assembly elections in 2019 and may also alter the political equations.
For the first time, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was used in the by-election.
The by-election in Goa’s two Assembly constituencies of Panaji and Valpoi recorded nearly 75 % voting.
In Panaji, 70% voting was recorded as against 77.06% in the February 4 Assembly election. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who had been all along saying it was a matter of big margin in this election he was looking at, ended up admitting that the percentage would definitely lower the party’s winning margins. Mr. Parrikar was facing Congress’ Girish Chodankar and Goa Suraksha Manch’s Anand Shirodkar in the constituency.
Counting of votes in all the constituencies is scheduled for Monday.
(With inputs from Prakash Kamat from Panaji
