An hour after the counting for the by elaction to four loksabha seats and ten assembly seats began, the BJP was seen lagging in the closely-watched Kairana seat. The BJP is leading in the other crucial seat of Palghar in Maharashtra. One of the most crucial among the seats is western uttar pradesh kairana where the opposition parties put up a show of unity to take on the BJP in the run up to the general elections next year. Re-polling was held yesterday in 73 polling booths in Kairana, 49 polling stations in Maharashtra’s Bhandara-Gondia and one polling station in Nagaland, after the Election Commission (EC) announced that re-polling will take place in these booths after widespread failure of the machines in Monday’s by-elections. The assembly seats where the by-elections were held on Monday are Noorpur (Uttar Pradesh), Jokihat (Bihar), Tharali (Uttarakhand), Gomia and Silli (Jharkhand), Maheshtala (West Bengal), Ampati (Meghalaya), Palus Kadegaon (Maharashtra), Shahkot (Punjab) and Chengannur (Kerala).
The BJP is leading in Palghar Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra and its ally NDPP is leading in Nagaland. But in UP’s Kairana – seen as a test for the United opposition — and Maharashtra’s Bhandara-Gondiya, it is trailing. Polling in the two parliamentary seats on Monday was marred by complaints of faulty EVMs or electronic vote machines at many booths. Repolling was held in 73 polling stations of Kairana and 49 booths in Bhandara-Gondiya yesterday. Nearly 20 per cent of VVPAT or Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines, which eject slips confirming voters’ choices, were replaced on both seats.
