Uttarakhand: Around 64 pc voter turnout recorded in Champawat by-election
Dehradun, May 31: The bypoll in Champawat Assembly constituency in Uttarakhand recorded around 64 per cent voter turnout. It decides the fate of four candidates including Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
The voting for the bypoll commenced at 7 am and ended at 5 pm. By the time polling drew to a close, approximately 64 per cent of the electorate had cast their votes, District Magistrate Narendra Singh Bhandari said. The voter turnout in the Champawat constituency in the Assembly polls held in February was around 66 per cent, he said.
The officer said that the final polling percentage might vary a little and will be known only after all polling parties return to the district headquarters and submit their data.
The
slight
drop
in
the
polling
percentage
may
have
been
due
to
nearly
three
hours
of
rain
in
the
district
in
the
afternoon,
election
officials
said.
Dhami,
who
lost
from
Khatima
in
the
February
polls,
is
trying
his
luck
from
Champawat
to
get
elected
to
the
Assembly
-
a
constitutional
requirement
he
needs
to
fulfil
within
six
months
of
being
sworn
in
as
chief
minister.
Former
BJP
MLA
Kailash
Gehtori
had
resigned
from
the
seat
last
month
to
make
way
for
Dhami
to
make
a
fresh
bid
for
the
state
assembly.
Dhami
is
locked
in
a
straight
contest
with
Congress' Nirmala
Gehtori
in
the
seat
located
in
Kumaon
region
of
the
state.
The other two in the fray are Samajwadi Party's Manoj Kumar Bhatt and Independent candidate Himashu Gadkoti. The chief minister campaigned aggressively in Champawat along with Gehtori after filing his nomination on May 9, asking people to give him an opportunity to serve them. BJP star campaigner and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also campaigned for Dhami in Tanakpur. There are 96,213 voters in the Champawat constituency. PTI