Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Over 70 percent ballots were believed cast in the Hisar Lok Sabha by-poll, where Team Anna had campaigned against the Congress candidate, while turnouts varied in five other assembly constituencies in five states. Polling was peaceful throughout.

“No incidence of violence was reported in Hisar. We are expecting the turnout to cross the 70 percent mark,” a poll official from Hisar told IANS.

Political rivals and analysts are awaiting the outcome in Hisar, where counting of votes will be held Oct 17, to assess whether the call by civil society leader Anna Hazare will be a “game changer” to trigger an anti-Congress wave as happened during the Jayaprakash Narayan movement in the mid-1970s.

Political circles feel that Hazare’s appeal, carried through video CDs, might have caused the 70 percent voting - a high figure for a by-poll.

In the 2009 general elections in Hisar - won by former Haryana chief minister and the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) leader Bhajan Lal - the polling percentage was equally high at 69.3.

Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi is contensting as the HJC candidate, backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s son Ajay Chautala contested as the candidate of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) while three-time MP Jai Prakash was the Congress nominee.

In 2009, the Congress had ended up in the third position. It was the only seat in Haryana which the Congress had failed to win.

The BJP is hoping a replay of the 1975 by-poll in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, when Jayaprakash Narayan led the opposition parties to close their ranks and support youth leader Sharad Yadav, now the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief, who emerged winner.

Though Hazare did not personally visit Hisar, his colleagues Arvind Kejriwal and Manoj Sisodia campaigned extensively, playing a video of Hazare’s appeal to people not to vote for the Congress, which Hazare alleged was not serious in adopting a strong Lokpal bill.

The BJP is also having high hopes on Bishnoi. If he wins, the party hopes the Jan Chetna Yatra, led by senior leader L.K. Advani, will get a boost.

However, the Congress is trying to discount any national significance to the by-poll in Hisar or in five other states.

There was heavy security in the nationally-watched by-poll with large posse of police and para-military personnel guarding the polling booths, and the streets of towns and village centres.

The Election Commission had arranged for video shooting of the polling in all booths.

Apart from Hisar, five other by-elections were held simultaneously for assembly constituencies - Banswada (Andhra Pradesh), Daroundha (Bihar), Khadakwasla (Maharashtra), Tiruchirapalli West (Tamil Nadu), and Indira Nagar (Puducherry).

The polling percentage varied from Indira Nagar recording a high 83 percent and Khadakwasla a low 26 percent.

Daroundha in Bihar witnessed nearly 50 polling while Banswada in the agitation-hit Telangana recorded 70 percent.

Reports from Hyderabad said that the polling in Banswada was peaceful.

As state government employees continued their strike, election authorities drafted central government staff for poll duty.

Though there are six candidates in the fray, it is expected to be a direct fight between Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate P. Srinivas Reddy and the ruling Congress party’s S. Srinivas Goud.

Riding on the Telangana agitation, Reddy is expected to retain the seat. He had won the seat in the 2009 elections as a candidate of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), but quit the party and the assembly a few months ago to join the TRS, which is spearheading the movement for a separate state.

Nearly 50 percent votes were recorded in Bihar’s sensitive Daroundha constituency amid tight security.

The main contest is between Kavita Singh, newly-wedded daughter-in-law of JD-U legislator Jagmato Dev, whose death caused the by-poll, and Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Parmeshwar Singh.

Barely 26 percent votes were polled in Khadakwasla where Harshal, the widow of legislator Ramesh Wanjale (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) is contesting on the Nationalist Congress Party ticket, supported by the Congress, against joint opposition candidate Bhimrao Tapkir.

Sixty percent voting was recorded in Tiruchirapalli West where the main fight is between AIADMK’s M. Paranjothi and DMK candidate and former transport minister K.N. Nehru.

A high of 83 percent voting was recorded in Indira Nagar where Tamilselvan, nephew of Chief Minister and NR Congress chief N. Rangaswamy, faced the Congress’s Aroumougam.