4-cornered contest: Hamirpur bypoll peaceful, sees 51% turnout

“The election on the Hamirpur seat took place peacefully and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the district. I have talked to the District Magistrate and he has confirmed that no absolute boycott was reported from any of the polling booths,” said CEO Lakku Venkateshwarlu.

According to a statement issued by the CEO’s office, total nine candidates contested in the election and there were total 4.01 lakh registered voters in the Vidhan Sabha constituency. A total of 572 Electronic Voting Machines, 572 Ballot Units and 619 VVPATs were prepared for a total of 476 booths and 256 police centre. In the election, all the booths had VVPAT facility.

The Hamirpur seat was vacated following the conviction of BJP MLA Ashok Kumar Chandel in a 22-year-old murder case. The contest is expected to be mainly between BJP’s Yuvraj Singh, Hardeepak Bishad from the Congress, Samajwadi Party’s Manoj Prajapati and Naushad Ali of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

On October 21, a dozen other Assembly constituencies in the state will also witness bypolls. These seats were vacated after the MLAs on the respective seats were elected as Members of Parliament in the recent Lok Sabha polls. While the BJP had 10 MLAs on these seats, one MLA each belonged to the SP and the BSP.