Uttarakhand: Voting underway for bypoll in Bageshwar assembly seat

Bageshwar (Uttarakhand) [India], September 5 (ANI): Voting for bypoll at Uttarakhand's Bageshwar Assembly seat is underway.
The voting procedure started on Tuesday at 7 am. Even though there are five candidates in the fray, the main contest in the constituency is likely to remain between the Bhartiya Janta Party's Parvati Das and the Congress' Basant Kumar.
The death of Parvati’s husband, Chandan Ram Das, from the Bageshwar constituency necessitated a bye-election in the Bagehwar Assembly. Kumar was previously the vice president of the Aam Adami Party (AAP) state unit. He resigned from the AAP to join the Congress Party. Notably, Parvati's husband was a strong candidate from the Bageshwar seat as he had been winning the elections from the same seat for four consecutive polls since 2007.
Besides the BJP and Congress, the Samajwadi Party has filed Bhagvati Prasad, Arjun Kumar Dev is fighting for Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and Bhawant Kholi is contesting on a ticket from the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party.
The campaigning for the seat ended on Sunday night after leaders of both parties held several road shows, meetings, and door-to-door campaigns to woo the voters.
On Sunday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed confidence in winning the by-polls for the Bageshwar assembly seat.
Speaking to ANI after attending a public rally, Dhami said, "We have always received support from all the voters of Bageshwar, and this time also I can see that they have an inclination towards us. So the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and Parvati Das will win from here with a clear majority."
"Our resolution for the development of Bageshwar and Uttarakhand under the guidance of Prime Minister Modi will be achieved," Dhami told ANI.
Apart from Uttarakhand, voting for bye-elections is underway in five other states for six assembly seats, including Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal, and Jharkhand. This is the first election between the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition bloc's newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). (ANI)