About 78.18% of the total of 7.63 lakh voters across nine Assembly constituencies in four northeastern States exercised their franchise for byelections on Monday.
The Khonsa West seat in Arunachal Pradesh witnessed the highest turnout of 90.74%, while the Gangtok seat in Sikkim recorded the lowest of 52.03%.
The battle for Khonsa West is between two Independents, one of them backed by both the ruling BJP and the Congress besides regional parties.
The chief electoral officers of the States said Assam averaged 75.69% voting across four seats that fell vacant after their representatives won the Lok Sabha polls. The highest turnout was for the Jania seat in western Assam, the only Muslim-dominated seat among the four.
Adivasis or “tea tribes” dominate the other three.
In Meghalaya’s Shella seat, the turnout was 84.56%. Apart from the Congress, the BJP is pitted against two regional partners in the coalition government. The National People’s Party, the largest partner in the coalition, had left the BJP and campaigned for one of the two regional parties.
‘Confident of victory’
Sikkim witnessed a three-cornered fight among the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha-BJP alliance, the Sikkim Democratic Front led by former Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and Hamro Sikkim Party headed by former Indian football team captain Bhaichung Bhutia.
Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, popular as P.S. Golay, is seeking election from the Poklok-Kamrang seat, while Mr. Bhutia is contesting the Gangtok seat reserved for the Bhutia-Lepcha communities.
The Poklok-Kamrang Assembly seat recorded the highest voter turnout of 80.56%. In the two other seats, Gangtok and Martam Rumtek, 52.03% and 72.6 % votes were polled respectively.
“I am confident of my victory. The people will vote for the development of the State,” Mr. Golay told journalists after visiting a few polling booths.
The polls were peaceful and Sikkim’s Chief Electoral Officer R. Telang said there had been no reports of any violence.
