Madhya Pradesh bypolls see bumper 69.93 pc turnout, close to 2018 figure

Both BJP and Congress claim high turnout in their favour

Women stand in a queue to cast their votes during the Madhya Pradesh Assembly bypolls, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, in Indore district | PTI Women stand in a queue to cast their votes during the Madhya Pradesh Assembly bypolls, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, in Indore district | PTI

Madhya Pradesh recorded a bumper turnout of 69.93 per cent in the crucial bypolls to 28 constituencies in the polling held on November 3. The Election Commission of India (ECI) released the estimated poll percentage till 9.00pm, late on Tuesday night.

The poll percentage is likely to increase slightly as some additions were likely later Tuesday night, officials said.

The turnout is quite close to the 2018 Assembly polls when these 28 seats recorded average turnout of 72.93 per cent.

Normally bypolls held close after main polls do not witness high voters’ turnout and thus the polling percentage recorded on Tuesday in the state is being looked upon with anticipation and apprehension by political parties and a lot of interest by political watchers.

Both the major political parties – Congress and BJP – direct contenders of the bypolls have claimed that the higher turnout is favouring them. The Congress has attributed the high turnout as a display of people’s anger against the ‘betrayer’ leaders and a vote for bringing Congress government back, while the BJP has said that the strategic booth level management of the BJP managed to pull out the party supporters to vote in large numbers.

Both chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and ex-chief minister Kamal Nath thanked voters for showing enthusiasm in polling despite the COVID-19 situation. Kamal Nath said that the high turnout is a direct message to the BJP. “The way people showed enthusiasm for polling is showing the truth and the direction to the BJP,” the ex-CM said.

Chouhan said that the high turnout shows the strength of democracy. “All the seats have shown bumper voting. The BJP will post victory as bumper as the turnout,” the CM said.

Political watchers said that the high turnout is interesting because bypolls normally do not show high turnouts and normally higher turnout favours the opposition party. “But these bypolls have several interesting factors as they are almost equivalent to any Assembly polls given their importance for retaining the BJP government or otherwise. So it will be interesting to see which side the voters have tilted,” political commentator Manish Dixit said.

Gwalior (East) records dismal 48.15%; Agar high at 83.75%

Amidst overall high voters’ turnout, the Chambal region and Gwalior district witnessed relatively low percentage of voting.

Gwalior (East) constituency where Munnalal Goyal of BJP is pitted against Satish Sikarwar of Congress recorded the lowest turnout of 48.15 per cent, as much as 10% lower than the turnout in 2018 Assembly polls.

Agar constituency, where Vipin Wankhede of Congress is contesting against Manoj Untwal of BJP showed the highest turnout of 83.75 per cent. Agar is the only seat amongst the 28 that was held by BJP. All the other 27 were won by the Congress in 2018 polls.

Five constituencies recorded poll percentages of over 80 per cent, compared to six in 2018 Assembly polls. Six of 28 constituencies recorded higher polling percentages compared to 2018 elections.

📣 The Week is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TheWeekmagazine) and stay updated with the latest headlines