Sixty-six per cent polling for Beed Lok Sabha bypoll

Around 66 per cent polling was recorded in the Beed Lok Sabha bypoll, held simultaneously with Maharashtra Assembly elections today, a senior election official said.
Pritam, daughter of the late BJP leader Gopinath Munde, is contesting from the Beed Lok Sabha constituency in a bid to inherit her father's political legacy.
While sitting BJP MLA and Munde's eldest daughter Pankaja is pitted against her estranged cousin Dhananjay Munde, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) nominee, in Parli Assembly constituency in the district.
Pritam's main rival for Beed Lok Sabha seat is former Congress minister Ashok Patil.
Top leaders of BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, addressed campaign rallies for the Munde sisters, while NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar campaigned for their party nominees in the district.

In an acknowledgement of Munde's standing in the state politics, Modi kickstarted his campaign for Assembly polls from Beed, saying that had Munde been alive, there would have been no need for him (Modi) to canvass for votes in Maharashtra.

Munde died in a road accident in New Delhi in June.
Shiv Sena has chosen not to put up a candidate against Munde sisters, while the NCP has not fielded anyone against Pritam as announced by Sharad Pawar soon after Munde's death.
Pankaja expressed her gratitude to Sena president Uddhav Thackeray for not fielding candidates against her and Pritam.