By-polls underway in 3 Lok Sabha and 33 state assembly seats

Voting is underway in three Lok Sabha and 33 state assembly seats in by-polls being held across nine states today. The polls are being held in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Telangana.

Ranjan Ben Bhatta, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Vadodara, who will contesting on the seat vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, "I have cast my vote and I am happy to see that people have started coming to cast their vote at seven in the morning."

"Everyone is with BJP and they are all very enthusiastic to cast their vote today. I am confident that I will win by huge margin because people of Vadodara are with me," she added.

Bhatta predicted that voter turnout was going to be high despite the city being affected by floods a few days back.

She also praised the swift manner in which the relief work during the recent floods was carried out by the state government and the administration.

Vadodara in Gujarat, Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh and Medak in Telangana are the three Parliamentary constituencies where voting is taking place after these seats were vacated by Prime Minister Modi, Mulayam Singh Yadav and K Chandrashekhara Rao respectively.