Pushkar Singh Dhami lost to Khatima seat in Uttarakhand polls earlier this year
New Delhi:
The vote count has begun in three Assembly seats in Uttarakhand, Kerala and Odisha, where polls were held earlier this week. All eyes are on Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who is competing for a seat in the Assembly after losing in state polls earlier this year.
The three seats that went to the polls are Champawat in Uttarakhand, Brajarajnagar in Odisha and Thrikkakara in Kerala.
Early trends show Pushkar Singh leading Dhami by a huge margin in Champawat constituency. Former BJP MLA Kailash Gehtori had resigned from the seat to make way for Dhami to make a new bid for the state assembly.
The BJP had campaigned aggressively for Dhami and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had campaigned for him.
Dhami is engaged in a direct battle with Congressional Nirmala Gehtori in the Kumaon region seat of the state. The other two in the fray are Manoj Kumar Bhatt of the Samajwadi party and independent candidate Himashu Gadkoti.
In Kerala, Congress leads the electoral commission in Thrikkakara constituency, according to the Election Commission. The party has staged Uma Thomas against Dr. Jo Joseph of CPI(M), a well-known cardiologist. The BJP, meanwhile, has placed its veteran leader, AN Radhakrishnan, in the constituency.
The Odisha by-election will take place in the assembly segment of Brajrajnagar in the Jharsuguda district of Odisha.
Although 11 candidates were in contention, the constituency mainly witnessed a triangle fight between BJD, BJP and Congress nominees.
The BJD nominated the late MLA’s wife Alaka Mohanty as a candidate, while the BJP nominated former lawmaker Radharani Panda. Ex-meeting speaker Kishore Patel contested the by-election on a convention ticket.
