High voter turnout at Deglur bypoll

AURANGABAD: The byelection for the Deglur assembly seat in Nanded district on Saturday got a good response from the voters with approximate 63% voting reported till 7pm.
The voter turnout, which was better than the 60.9% turnout during the 2019 assembly election, has prompted both Congress and BJP to claim victory.
While the prestigious electoral battle saw Jitesh Antapurkar of Congress and Subhash Sabne of BJP locking horns, all eyes will be on the vote share of Uttam Ingole of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA).
Returning officer for Deglur assembly seat Sachin Giri said the polling went off smoothly without any untoward incident.
“The extensive campaign by political parties could have led to relatively better turnout of voters. All Covid prevention norms prescribed by the Election Commission of India were followed in letter and spirit at all polling booths,” he said, adding that the final polling percentage would be declared later in the night.
A total 12 candidates were in the fray for the byelection to the Deglur assembly seat, which has 2.9 lakh registered voters.
Jitesh, the son of deceased Congress MLA Raosaheb Antapurkar, said he would emerge victorious. “The Congress, under the leadership of our Ashok Chavan, had made meticulous planning for the crucial election. The death of my father due to Covid had left the voters in Deglur-Biloli area shell-shocked. They came out in large numbers to cast their votes to express solidarity with me,” he said.
Sabne, who had ditched Shiv Sena and joined BJP ahead of the election, could not be reached for his comments.
BJP leader Shirish Boralkar said his party would repeat the result of the Pandharpur bypoll at Deglur too. “The heavy voter turnout is a sign of anger against the MVA government. Sabne had registered a win from Deglur in 2014 election and will taste victory again,” he said.
The counting of the votes for the Deglur assembly byelection is scheduled on November 2.