Moradabad Mayoral By-poll Results: BJP candidate Vinod Agarwal wins by 35815 votes

Besides the BJP, candidates from Indian National Congress, Samajwadi Party and three Independent candidates were in the fray for the seat of the Mayor.

Moradabad, August 5: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Vinod Agarwal won the mayoral by-polls in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh on Friday. Voting was held for the by-elections to elect a mayor on Thursday. The voting was by and large peaceful, with a voting percentage of 24.5%. Polling took place from 7 am to 5 pm, and it was completed without an incident. The counting of votes took place on Friday, from 8 am onwards. The voter turnout was extremely disappointing, with the only saving grace being that the poll proceedings went on, without any untoward incident.

Besides the BJP, candidates from Indian National Congress, Samajwadi Party and three Independent candidates were in the fray for the seat of the Mayor. On the polling day, heavy security was put into place, with drone security cameras to maintain a watch over all polling booths, were deployed for the first time, especially to monitor sensitive polling stations. Voting had started at 7 am on Wednesday and people had voted through 687 polling booths spread across the city, situated in Moradabad district. ALSO READ: West Bengal: Subhendu Adhikary starts preparation for Tamluk by polls

By 10 am, the voter turnout recorded was a measly 8 per cent, which grew only marginally to 17 per cent till noon. The electorate consisted of  5,54,117 voters, but only 1,35, 930 votes were polled. From Congress Anand Mohan Gupta and from Samajwadi Party candidate Raj Kumar Prajapati competed for the post. Concerned about the low turnout, all three candidates had appealed to the voters to cast their votes. Additional district majistrate (city), Moradabad, AK Srivastav told the Times of India, “The low turnout is because of the mood of the public. We can’t do much about it. We have also appealed to the voters and launched an awareness campaign in order to make more people turn up.”

Moradabad Mayor bypoll: BJP candidate Vinod Agarwal wins by 35815 votes, supporters celebrate pic.twitter.com/NW6HYurzoV

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 5, 2016