Voting underway for by-elections in 54 assembly seats across 10 states, PM Modi urges people to vote in large numbers

Apart from the second phase of voting for Bihar General Elections 2020, voting has also begun for the by-elections in 54 assembly seats across 10 major states on November 3, 2020. It includes the crucial 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh, where four senior national leaders' future ambitions are on the stake- Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Narendra Singh Tomar from BJP and Kamal Nath of Congress party.

The by-elections across 10 states are significant for the ruling BJP party as well as the opposition parties. Special arrangements due to the COVID-19 pandemic have also been made for the safety of the voters.

Before the by-elections, Prime Minister Modi shared a message via Twitter and urged voters to come out and vote in large numbers to strengthen the festival of democracy.

Today, there are by-polls taking place in various places across India. I urge those voting in these seats to vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 3, 2020

In which states by-elections are being held?

Voting for the by-elections in 54 assembly seats are being held in 10 states:

•  Gujarat

•  Madhya Pradesh

•  Jharkhand

•  Odisha

•  Karnataka

•  Haryana

•  Telangana

•  Chhattisgarh

•  Nagaland

•  Uttar Pradesh

Number of assembly seats in each state for by-poll:

What will be the voting timings for by-elections in 10 states?

The voting for the by-elections started at 7 am and it will continue till 6 pm. However, the timings of voting in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Nagaland will be different.

When will be the counting of votes?

The counting of by-election votes will be held on November 10, 2020.

Special COVID-19 arrangements undertaken for by-elections in 10 states:

•  Hand gloves, masks, sanitizers, and face shields have been provided to all the polling staff including the security personnel at the polling station.

•  Soaps, water for hand wash, and sanitizers have been kept at all the polling booths for the safety of the voters.

•  All the voters have also to go through the thermal screening before entering the poll booth. Those who have high body temperature are being issued tokens to cast their vote at last.

•  In order to maintain social distancing amid pandemic, the maximum limit of voters per polling booth has been reduced from 1500 to 1000.

•  Around 800 ASHA and Anganwadi workers along with an equal number of volunteers have also been deployed to make the process COVID safe.

•  As per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India, voters without a mask will not be allowed to vote in the polling station.

•  Special arrangements have also been made for COVID-19 positive patients. They will be allowed to vote separately in the last hour of voting.

By-election in India:

By-election in India, also known as Bypolls, takes place when an elected candidate to either Rajya Sabha, State assembly, or Lok Sabha leaves the office vacant before the end of their term. By-elections are held to find a suitable replacement to fill the vacant position.

The most common reasons behind the vacant seat are either the resignation of the sitting MLA once he or she gets elected as MP or the death of the sitting MLA or MP. Also, if a candidate has won more than one seat they have to vacate the office.

Some of the other reasons also include the ineligibility of the elected members because of the criminal conviction, election irregularities, or failure in maintaining a minimum attendance in the office.