Bypolls in NE, eastern states peaceful; 70% polling in Nagaland LS seat

The Lok Sabha and Assembly byolls in northeastern and eastern states passed off peacefully today amid tight security with 70 per cent voters exercising their franchise for the lone parliamentary seat in Nagaland, election commission sources said.

Bye-elections were also held for Assembly seats in Ampati in Meghalaya, Gomia and Silli in Jharkhand, Maheshtala in West Bengal and Jokikhat in Bihar.

According to election commission sources, there were no reports of any untoward incident from anywhere.

They said, the voting percentage in Ampati was 90.42 per cent, in Gomia and Silli it was 62.61 and 75.5 per cent respectively, while 70 per cent voting was recorded till 5 pm in Maheshtala, and Jokikhat registered 53 per cent polling till 5 pm.

The polling figure in Maheshtala Assembly seat is expected to go up as the exercise continued till 6 pm.

The Lok Sabha bypoll in Nagaland was necessitated after Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who is also the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) leader, resigned as member of Parliament in February, days before the Assembly polls in the state.

In today's Lok Sabha bypoll, the ruling People's Democratic Alliance (PDA), which has the NDPP and the BJP as it major constituents, fielded former minister Tokheho Yepthomi as its candidate.

The opposition Naga People's Front's (NPF) nominee is C Apok Jamir, who is being supported by Congress.

Ampati Assembly in Meghlaya witnessed a triangular contest, where Miani D Shira, the daughter of Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma, is the Congress candidate, Clement G Momin is the nominee of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance while Subhankar Koch is the Independent contestant.

The bye-election in this constituency was necessitated after Sangma resigned from the seat as he had won from Songsak seat as well in the February 27 assembly election.

Polling in Gomia and Silli seats ended at 3 pm as they fall in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas, sources said.

The bypolls were necessitated following the conviction of their respective MLAs Yogendra Mahto and Amit Mahto, both of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

In Gomia Assembly seat, though there is a total of 13 candidates, the main contest is between BJP's Madhavlal Singh, AJSU's Lambodar Mahto and JMM's Babita Devi, the wife of Yogendra Mahto.

In Silli of the 10 candidates, the main contest is between the former deputy chief minister and AJSU president Sudesh Mahto, and Seema Mahto, the wife of disqualified MLA Amit Mahto.

Bypoll in West Bengal's Maheshtala Assembly seat was held following the death of Trinamool Congress MLA Kasturi Das.

The party has fielded her husband Dulal Das, while the BJP, which is trying to emerge as the main challenger to the rulign TMC, has fielded Sujit Ghosh, a former CBI joint director. The Left has nominated Prabhat Chowdhury.

Bihar's Jokikhat Assembly bypoll, necessitated following the resignation of sitting MLA Sarfaraz Alam, is being viewed as a test of strength between Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Lalu Prasad's RJD.

In the multi-cornered fight for the seat, the main contestants were RJD's Shahnawaz Alam, the younger son of the party's late leader Taslimuddin, and JD(U)'s Murshid Alam.

Six Independents and Ghousul Azam, who represents controversial Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav's fledgling outfit Jan Adhikar Party are also in fray.