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Guwahati/Ahmedabad/Kolkata: Counting of votes will take place on Saturday for the assembly by-elections held in Assam, Gujarat and West Bengal. Strict security arrangements have been made for counting of votes. Election related officials gave this information. Officials said that a total of 34 candidates are trying their luck from five assembly seats in Assam – Dholai, Samaguri, Behali, Bongaigaon and Sidli constituencies. Counting of votes will start at 8 am in all three states.
Counting of votes for Dholai seat will take place at the Inter-State Truck Terminal in Ramnagar. The counting of votes for Sidli seat will take place at the district center in Kajalgaon, while the counting for Bongaigaon will take place at Bongaigaon College. Officials said on Friday evening that all preparations for counting of votes have been completed. This year, these assembly seats have become vacant after the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha. There were sporadic incidents of violence and clashes between BJP and Congress supporters during the election campaign in Samguri. BJP has fielded candidates on Behali, Samguri and Dholai seats and its alliance partners AGP (Assam Gana Parishad) and UPPL have fielded candidates on Bongaigaon and Sidli seats respectively. Congress is contesting elections on all five seats. 75.67 percent people voted in the by-election.
At the same time, counting of votes for the by-election will also take place in Vav assembly seat of Banaskantha district of Gujarat. There is a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress on Vav assembly seat. Officials said that the counting of votes will take place at an engineering college in Jagana village. A release issued by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat on Friday said that around 160 returning officers and 400 personnel of Gujarat Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed at the counting centre. 70.55% voters had exercised their franchise in the by-election on this seat.
The fate of the candidates on six assembly seats in West Bengal will also be decided on Saturday. The election results are in the news amid the ongoing protests over the rape and murder of a trainee female doctor at RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata. Bengal’s Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra, Sitai (Scheduled Caste) and Madarihat (Scheduled Tribe) are included. Voting for the by-elections on six seats of Bengal was held on November 13 and the voting percentage was 69.29. The Commission has made elaborate security arrangements to ensure smooth counting of votes. Out of the seats where by-elections were held, five seats are considered to be TMC strongholds while Madarihat was won by BJP in 2021. (input language)
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