MP: Maihar Assembly seat bypoll tomorrow

Polling for the Maihar Assembly seat by-election in Satna district will be held tomorrow and all arrangements are in place for a peaceful election.
The main contest is between BJP and Congress, though 15 candidates are in fray for the bypoll.
Winning the Maihar bypoll is not only crucial for Congress, but equally for BJP whose political graph in the country is on a decline after it suffered a drubbing in Bihar state elections last year.
For Congress, the bypoll is a prestige issue as it won the seat in 2013, despite BJP getting over two-third majority in the state Assembly.

The Congress, had, however, suffered a major jolt in 2014 Lok Sabha elections when its Maihar candidate and elected MLA Narayan Tripathi switched over to the BJP.
This led to the defeat of the party nominee and former Leader of Opposition in state Assembly, Ajay Singh, in parliamentary polls from Satna Lok Sabha seat, a political analyst said.

While the BJP has rewarded Tripathi with the party ticket for the bypoll, the Congress has fielded former BSP leader Manish Patel, who secured third position in the 2013 Assembly election by getting more than 40,000 votes.
This time, the BSP has fielded former MLA Ram Lakhan Singh Patel and Samajwadi Party has nominated Ram Niwas Urmalia for the by-election.

The counting of votes will take place on February 16.
A total of 2,27,803 voters, including 1,19,563 men, 1,08,232 women and eight belonging to the third gender, will exercise their right to franchise in the by-elections, an official release said.
Besides state police, six companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed for conducting the polls in a peaceful manner, it added.