The byelections to nine Assembly seats in three north-eastern States on Saturday saw a high turnout of voters.
Deaths of the sitting MLAs or their defection to the Bharatiya Janata Party had necessitated the bypolls to five constituencies in Assam, three in Meghalaya and one in Mizoram.
Election officials in Assam said over 70% of people cast their votes by 5 p.m. in the Bhabanipur, Gossaigaon, Mariani, Tamulpur and Thowra seats. “The percentage is expected to increase after inputs from all polling stations come,” the State’s chief electoral officer, Nitin Khade said.
The average voting percentage in Mawphlang, Mawryngkneng and Rajabala constituencies in Meghalaya was 78.79% and in Mizoram’s Tuirial seat was 78.49%. These are not the final figures, officials in the two States said.
The Assam unit of the BJP and its regional ally, United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), were confident of sweeping the five seats. “People have given their verdict in favour of our alliance,” BJP leader Ranjib Kumar Sarma said.
The BJP had fielded three turncoats – Rupjyoti Kurmi from Mariani, Sushanta Borgohain from Thowra and Phanidhar Talukdar from Bhabanipur. The first two had defected from Congress and the third from the All India United Democratic Front.
Candidates of the UPPL contested the Gossaigaon and Tamulpur seats in the Bodoland Territorial Region.
The Congress, which contested all the nine seats in the region, hoped to consolidate its position besides retaining the Mawryngkneng and Rajabala seats despite the challenge from its main rival, the National People’s Party that heads the coalition government in Meghalaya.
The Congress also hoped to wrest the Tuirial seat from the Zoram People’s Movement, whose candidate had won in the 2018 elections.
