Assembly Elections 2023: Voting begins in Meghalaya, Odisha and UP

Bypolls are underway in the assembly constituencies of Swar and Chhanbey in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, Jharsuguda in Odisha and Sohiong in Meghalaya. Voting for the four assembly seats in the respective areas began earlier on Wednesday at around 7am.

This coincides with the elections for the Jalandhar (Punjab) Lok Sabha seat and the poll in Karnataka.

To the unversed, the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary. In Meghalaya, polling was necessitated due to the death of UDP candidate HDR Lyngdoh.

Voting will take place till 4 pm in 3,328 polling booths, of which 1,100 have been identified as sensitive and 28 as critical.

PM Modi urges people to cast their vote

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to come out and vote in large numbers on Wednesday as voting for one Lok Sabha seat in Punjab and four assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Meghalaya commenced.

"There are by-polls happening for a Parliamentary seat in Punjab and for Assembly seats in Meghalaya, Odisha and UP. Urging voters in those constituencies to exercise their franchise in large numbers," PM Modi tweeted.

Voting time and counting/result date

Voting across Karnataka began at 7 am amid tight security, similar to other states and its poll-bound constituencies, and it will go on till 6 in the evening. While Meghalaya is expected to close voting at 4pm, the southern region would shut doors at 6pm.

The results will reportedly be declared on May 13.