This is one of the largest bypoll exercises in recent times in terms of numbers of seats up for polling.
The polling for 4 Lok Sabha and 10 assembly seats across 10 states, including politically crucial Kairana Parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh, began at 7am on Monday. The polling will continue till 5 pm in the evening.
10.20% voting was recorded till 9 am in Kairana.
This is one of the largest bypoll exercises in recent times in terms of numbers of seats up for polling.
Besides Kairana, polling is also being held for Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and Nagaland Lok Sabha seats.
The elections in four Lok Sabha seats are being seen with keen interest as their result on May 31 could be a trendsetter for the 2019 general elections.
Among these, Kairana has elicited a special interest as it was Uttar Pradesh that had catapulted the BJP into the driver’s seat by giving it 73 out of 80 seats during 2014 elections.
The constituency fell vacant after the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh, whose daughter Mriganka Singh is fighting Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Tabassum Hasan who is supported by the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
With nearly 17 lakh voters, the Kairana has a significant number of Muslims, Jats and Dalit voters, and thus would be a test case of whether the united opposition there can consolidate their votes like they did in Gorakhpur and Phulpur.
In Palghar, where the election is taking place following the death of BJP's Chintaman Wanga, the party's estranged ally Shiv Sena staged a coup by fielding the late MP’s son Srinivas to capture the sympathy vote.
The BJP poached former Congress minister Rajendra Gavit. The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) led by Vasai-Virar strongman Hitendra Thakur is also in the fray with the nomination of its ex-MP Baliram Jadhav. Kiran Raja Gahla of the CPI-M, which has a base in Talasari and Dahanu, and former five-term MP Damu Shingada (Congress) are also contesting in a multi-cornered fight from the seat reserved for scheduled tribes (ST).
In Bhandara-Gondia, the BJP and NCP have locked horns after the resignation of BJP MP Nana Patole. Patole, a leader of the powerful OBC Kunbi community, had switched side from the Congress to the BJP and was elected as an MP from the constituency in Vidarbha in 2014 by defeating former union minister and NCP heavyweight Praful Patel.
Patole, however, openly took on the BJP leadership and resigned to rejoin the Congress. The NCP, which has allied with the Congress, is contesting the constituency and has fielded former BJP MLA Madhukar Kukde, against the BJP’s Hemant Patle, who belongs to the Powar community and is also a former legislator.
The assembly seats that are going to polls today are: Gomia and Silli in Jharkhand, Noorpur in Uttar Pradesh, Shahkot in Punjab, Jokihat in Bihar, Chengannur in Kerala, Palus Kadegaon in Maharashtra, Ampati in Meghalaya, Tharali in Uttarakhand and Maheshtala in West Bengal.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Voting underway at a polling station for Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha bypoll")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}