Bawana bypoll: Eight candidates in fray

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 18

Atmosphere is heating up in the run-up to Bawana Assembly by-election with eight candidates in the fray for the August 23 polls for which over 2.94 lakh electors are eligible to vote.

The election will be conducted through 379 polling stations where the electorate will exercise their franchise through EVMs equipped with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). The counting will take place on August 28.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi, Chandra Bhushan Kumar stated, “Of 2,94,589 electors, 4,102 fall in the age group of 18-19. The number of male, female and third gender electors are -- 1,64,114, 1,30,143 and 25 respectively. The average number of voters per polling station stands at 776.”

“VVPAT is being used for the first time in any election held in AC-07 (Bawana). EVM (Ballot Unit + Control Unit) along with VVPAT will be used at each polling station,” said the CEO office.

Of 379 polling stations, 311 of them have fewer than 1,000 registered electors while 68 have more than 1,000 registered electors, it said.

Bottles of countrymade liquor seized

Sharing the details about the violations and action taken in the run-up to the bypoll, the CEO office said, 8,019 bottles of country-made liquor and 3,972 bottles of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) have been seized.

Till date, 24 FIRs have been registered and 19 persons arrested. Further, 64 licensed arms have been deposited, five unlicensed arms seized, two FIRs registered under the Arms Act and four persons have been arrested for the same.

The Bawana seat (reserved for Scheduled Caste) fell vacant in March after the then ruling party legislator Ved Prakash resigned. Prakash also resigned from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and joined the BJP which went on to field him as its candidate for the upcoming bypoll.

The AAP has named Ramchandra as its candidate while the Congress is putting its bet on Surendra Kumar, a former three-time MLA from Bawana and currently the party’s district president. All three major parties are leaving no stone unturned to win the elections.

The AAP currently has a massive majority of 66 MLAs in the 70-member Assembly, with the remaining four belonging to the BJP.

Amid hectic campaigns by the parties, sacked minister Kapil Mishra today filed a complaint alleging violation of model code of conduct and election laws by AAP candidate Ramchandra regarding a contentious survey purportedly showing the AAP candidate winning the Bawana polls.

In his complaint, Mishra has accused ruling party MLA Alka Lamba and several other senior AAP leaders of “spreading false information to mislead voters” by circulating messages through phones and to support his claim, he attached copies of tweets. The allegations were rejected by the AAP saying they are not worth responding.