Bawana bypoll: 35 per cent votes recorded till 3 pm

NEW DELHI: Over 35 per cent votes were polled till 3 PM in the Bawana assembly bypoll today, which is witnessing a triangular contest among AAP, BJP and Congress.

Voting began at 8 AM and progressed smoothly except for a few complaints of glitches in voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines at some booths, poll officials said.     

"35.44 per cent voting was reported till 3 PM. Seven VVPATs attached to EVMs went into error mode following which they were replaced," a senior poll official said.There were also some EVM issues in a couple of booths in the morning but they were all fixed.EVMs with paper trail machines, the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), are being used in all the 379 polling stations.     

Over 2.94 lakh electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-election for the reserved assembly seat that falls in north-west Delhi area. Eight candidates are in the fray for the bypoll, necessitated due to AAP MLA Ved Parkash quitting the assembly to rejoin the BJP in March ahead of the municipal elections.     

Counting will take place on August 28.All three major parties are eyeing a victory in the bypoll, being seen as a barometer of their political influence.The number of male, female and third gender electors are 1,64,114, 1,30,143, and 25, respectively. The average number of voters per polling station stands at 776.Out of 379 polling stations in the constituency, 311 have less than 1,000 registered electors, while 68 have more than 1,000 registered electors, officials said.