Polling underway in Pithoragarh assembly seat in Uttarakhand

The by-poll on the seat was necessitated after the death of finance and parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Panth on June 6 this year.

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New Delhi: Polling for by-elections in one assembly seat in Pithoragarh and three assembly seats in West Bengal is currently underway. The three constituencies in West Bengal where polling is currently taking place are Kaliaganj (SC), Karimpur and Kharagpur Sadar.

Congress has fielded Anju Lunthi while BJP has fielded Chandra Pant as their candidatec for Pithoragarh assembly by-polls. Chandra is the wife of sitting MLA from Pithoragarh and former state finance and parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Panth whose death on June 6 necessitated bypoll to the seat.

The counting of votes will take place on November 28.

"After taking into consideration inputs from the Chief Electoral Officers of Uttarakhand and West Bengal and various factors like local festivals, electoral rolls, weather conditions etc, the Commission has decided to hold by-elections," the Election Commission had said in a press note on October 25.

The Gazette Notification for these polls was issued on October 30 and the last date for filing nominations was November 6.

In West Bengal, these are the first polls since after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which BJP had won 18 out of the 42 seats. Today's electoral battle is being seen as a triangular contest between Trinamool Congress, BJP and Left-Congress parties.