By Elections 2025 Live Updates: Ludhiana bypoll |Polling comes to end; 49% turnout till 5 pm

A voter turnout of 49.07 per cent was recorded till 5 pm for the bypoll to the Ludhiana West Assembly seat in Punjab on Thursday, with polling remaining peaceful.

Voting came to an end at 6 pm, and the turnout figures might increase once all the data pertaining to polling are received.

Officials said polling will continue until the last voter is present inside the polling station. The Ludhiana West seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 23.

Nilambur Assembly by-election: Malappuram District Collector VR Vinod said, "We have also identified 14 booths as critical polling stations, 3 of which are inside the forest, and 11 have been designated as critical polling stations due to some police input. We have appointed micro observers in all critical polling stations and webcasting has been arranged from all 263 polling stations. There is adequate police security. The officers are well-trained. 7 EVMs developed some issues, we have replaced them. Everything is going smoothly..."

BJP candidate for the by-election to Kaliganj assembly constituency in West Bengal's Nadia district, Ashis Ghosh, on Thursday alleged that polling officials put the ink mark on his middle finger instead of the index finger when he went to cast his vote.

Ghosh alleged that the polling officer of booth number 173 in Debagram under the "insistence" of Trinamool Congress agents deliberately put the ink mark on his middle finger.

"First, they missed putting the ink on my finger when I went to cast my vote. Then, after noticing that the ink was not there, I went back and they deliberately put the ink on my middle finger. This is a pre-planned thing. This is nothing but a political conspiracy of the TMC and they did it," Ghosh alleged.

The tender for webcasting in Kaliganj bye-election was rigged to favour a Gujarat-based firm through tailored clauses, opaque scoring, and manipulated timelines. Bengal-based agencies with proven track records were deliberately disqualified, says Trinamool Congress.

BJP leader and former deputy CM Nitin Patel casts his vote for Kadi assembly bypolls.

On Nilambur assembly bypoll, SP Malappuram R Vishwanath told ANI, "So far, the election process is going smoothly. No glitches have been recorded anywhere. Wherever issues arise, they are resolved by the officers immediately. A few booths are marked as critical polling booths where extra CAPF personnel and policemen have been deployed. So far, no issues have also been reported in these booths."

According to the Election Commission of India, voter turnout till 11 am is as follows:

Visavadar: 28.15%

Kadi: 23.85%

Nilambur: 30.15%

Ludhiana West: 21.51%

Kaliganj: 30.34%

NDA candidate  Mohan George cast his vote on Thursday at Booth No. 148, located at Mar Thoma Higher Secondary School in Chungathara, Malappuram.

An FIR has been registered against multiple digital news portals for violating the guidelines of the Election Commission of India by reportedly publishing opinion polls in connection with the Ludhiana West bypoll, according to reports.

According to the Election Commission of India, voter turnout in the ongoing Assembly by-elections remained moderate in the early hours of polling. By 9 am, Nilambur (Kerala) recorded the highest turnout at 13.15%, followed by Visavadar (Gujarat) at 12.10%, Kaliganj (West Bengal) at 10.83%, Kadi (Gujarat) at 9.05%, and Ludhiana West (Punjab) with the lowest turnout at 8.50%.

Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Prupkar Singh caste his vote at GGN Public School to cast his vote.  “...I want to thank all those who have been voting at various booths since morning, because we are receiving a very positive response and it feels really good. It is very encouraging," he told PTI.

The Election Commission says 8.5% voter turnout was recorded till 9 am in Ludhiana West.

AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora, BJP candidate Jeevan Gupta and Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu cast their votes in Ludhiana.

The poll panel reported a 13.15% voter turnout in the Nilambur assembly by-election till  9 am.

UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath cast his vote at Booth No. 184 at Veettikuth Government LP School.

Congress candidate for Visavadar assembly constituency, Nitin Ranpariya, said he is confident of winning the polls.

"People in large numbers are casting their vote today. No other candidate other than me is from this constituency. I am confident of winning," he told ANI.

LDF candidate M Swaraj cast his vote in Nilambur by-election.

Speaking to the media, Swaraj said that voting is a citizen's right and urged everyone in the constituency to exercise their franchise.

Congress candidate from Ludhiana West Assembly, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, has urged the public to cast their vote in the ongoing election. "I appeal to the public to come and cast their vote," he said.

-The bypoll was necessitated by the sudden demise of Trinamool Congress MLA Nasiruddin Ahmed in February.

-Candidates in fray: Trinamool Congress-Alifa Ahmed (daughter of Nasiruddin Ahmed), BJP-Ashis Ghosh, Congress-Kabil Uddin Shaikh (Congress candidate has got the support of the CPI(M))

-Polling is currently underway in the Nilambur Assembly constituency in Kerala to pick their representative from among 10 candidates.

-Among the 10 -- the key contenders are ruling LDF pick M Swaraj, Aryadan Shoukath (Congress-led UDF), Trinamool Congress state convener and independent candidate P V Anvar and Mohan George of the BJP-led NDA.

-The polling had to be initiated after Anvar quit as the MLA of the constituency amid strain in ties with the CPI(M)-led LDF over certain allegations by him against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his close aides.

-The Kadi seat in Mehsana district -- which is a constituency reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates -- remains vacant since February 4 post the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki

-Candidates in fray: BJP-Rajendra Chavda, Congress-Ramesh Chavda, AAP-Jagdish Chavda

-In 2012, Ramesh Chavda bagged the seat but lost it to BJP’s Karsanbhai Solanki in 2017

 -The Visavadar seat in Junagadh district has been lying vacant since December 2023, after the then AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP.

-Candidates in fray: BJP- Kirit Patel, Congress- Nitin Ranpariya, AAP- Gopal Italia

-Even as it continues to dominate the state, the BJP hasn't won the Vasavadar seat since 2007

The Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll, triggered by the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January, features a multi-cornered contest with with key political outfits -- the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) -- vying to outdo each other in the urban constituency.

AAP's Rajya Sabha MP, Congress' Bharat Bhushan Ashu, BJP's Jiwan Gupta and SAD's Parupkar Singh Ghuman have been fielded from the seat.

Polling has begun for the assembly by-elections in Kerala's Nilambur, Punjab's Ludhiana West, Kaliganj in West Bengal, and Visavadar and Kadi in Gujarat.