Counting for Ramtek, Jalgaon and Erandol by-polls tomorrow

Nagpur, Apr 11 (UNI) Counting for the by-elections from Ramtek, Jalgaon and Erandol Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra will be held here tomorrow.

The counting would commence at 0800 hrs tomorrow and the results are expected by noon, official sources said.

At Ramtek, the counting will be held at Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Market Yard in Kalamna, Additional District Collector and Returning Officer C S Dahalkar said. While at Jalgaon, counting will be held at FCI godown, district Collector Vijay Singhal said.

Meanwhile, 46.97 per cent polling was recorded in Ramtek while Jalgaon and Erandol reported 35 per cent turnout in the by-elections.

Although 12 candidates are in the fray in Ramtek, the real contest is expected between Subodh Mohite of the Congress, Prakash Jadhav of the Shiv Sena and Congress rebel Ranjit Deshmukh, contesting as an independent.

The by-election was held because Mr Mohite, who was elected in 2004 on a Shiv Sena ticket, resigned from the party and the House to join the Congress.

In the Jalgaon Lok Sabha constituency, the main contest is between Dr Arjun Bhangale of Congress and BJP's Haribhau Jawale, although a total of 11 candidates are in the fray.

Five candidates are in the fray in Erandol, but the main contest is expected to be between NCP's Vasantrao More and BJP's Dr B S Patil.

The election for these two constituencies was necessitated due to the resignation of BJP sitting MPs Y G Mahajan and M K Anna Patil from Jalgaon and Erandol respectively as they were implicated in a 'Cash-for-Query' sting operation.

UNI