M'shtra bypolls; 14pc polling in Ramtek till noon

Mumbai, Apr 9: About 14 per cent polling was recorded in the Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency bypoll whereas 6 per cent polling was recorded in the Jalgaon-Erandol bypolls till 1200 hrs.

Additional Collector and Returning Officer C S Dahalkar told UNI approximately 14 per cent polling was recorded till 1200 hrs in the Ramtek LS constituency bypoll. The polling had been peaceful and there were no reports of any untoward incidents, according to reports from Nagpur.

Meanwhile, 6 per cent polling was recorded till 1200 hrs in the Jalgaon-Erandol Lok Sabha bypolls, according to Returning Officer and District Collector Vijay Singhal. Voters did not turn out in large numbers due to scorching heat, according to reports from Jalgaon.

The by-election in Ramtek was necessitated after Subodh Mohite, who was elected in 2004 on a Shiv Sena ticket, resigned from the party and the House to join the Congress. He is now a nominee of the Congress in the bypoll. Although twelve candidates are in the fray in the constituency, the real fight is expected to be among Mr Mohite, Prakash Jadhav of the Shiv Sena and Congress rebel Ranjit Deshmukh, who is contesting as an independent. The counting of votes will be taken up on April 12.

A total of 11,72,818 voters in the Ramtek constituency, including 6,14,390 men and 5,58,428 women, are exercising their franchise at 1,800 polling booths, of which 138 have been identified as sensitive.

The constituency includes five assembly segments in Nagpur district -- Umrer, Kalameshwar, Katol, Saoner and Ramtek, and one in the neighbouring Amravati district - Morshi.

A total of 2,500 security personnel have been deployed in the Ramtek constituency to maintain law and order, including 1,600 personnel of the state police, 500 Home Guards, 200 forest guards and two companies (about 200 personnel) of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF). A total of 6,052 officers and personnel have been deployed to conduct the polling.

In the Jalgaon Lok Sabha constituency, the main contest will be between Arjun Bhangale of the Congress and BJP's Haribhau Jawale, although a total of eleven candidates are in the fray.

Five candidates are in the fray in Erandol but the main contest will be between NCP's Vasantrao More and BJP's B S Patil.

There are a total of 1,197 polling stations in Erandol of which 20 have been identified as sensitive. In Jalgaon, there are 1,190 polling stations of which 10 are sensitive.

A total of 4,500 police personnel have been deployed in both the constituencies and they have been assisted by four companies of the State Reserve Police Force and 1,100 Home Guard personnel.

UNI