The move is aimed at ensuring free and fair polls, in exercise of the plenary powers conferred on it by Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 20B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the poll panel said in a press note on Sunday.
Announcing the boycott of the February 5 byelection to the Tamil Nadu assembly from Erode (East) constituency, the principal opposition AIADMK and its ally the DMDK have said the decision to opt out of the contest was taken since the ruling DMK would not allow the people to vote freely as was the case in the past bypolls.
In Palakkad, more voters supported the LDF compared to previous elections. “Although the United Democratic Front (UDF) managed to retain Palakkad with the support of communal forces, the LDF candidate received more votes than before,” he remarked.
The by-elections being held to nine assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh is being seen as a litmus test for the future assembly elections to be held in 2027. With Congress out of the fray, it is now directly linked to the prestige of SP-BJP stalwarts in this by-election.
The Congress faces the task of defending six of the seven seats going to the polls next month, while the BJP aims to win back only one seat: Salumbar (ST).
The BJP won a spectacular victory in Gujarat and is the only party other than the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to have won seven straight Assembly elections in a state.
Samajwadi Party candidate Dimple Yadav is leading in Mainpuri with a comfortable lead of over one lakh votes.
The SP chief, while addressing Ex-Servicemen Conference in poll-bound Mainpuri asserted that no one was given a job after the recruitment rally under the scheme in Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad.
40-star campaigners will comprise of Rajnath Singh, CM Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak.
The Assembly seats are Padampur (Odisha), Sardarshahar (Rajasthan), Kurhani (Bihar), Bhanupratappur (Chhattisgarh) and Rampur (Uttar Pradesh). The Parliamentary seat is Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh).
