NANDED (Maharashtra) : Congress' Ravindra Chavan emerged victorious in the Nanded Lok Sabha as he defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's Santuk Hambarde.
Chavan managed a total of 5,86,788 votes in comparison to his closest contender Santuk Hambarde, who secured 5,85,331. There is only a margin of 1,457 votes.
Voting for the Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll, which registered a 67.81% voter turnout-the general elections this year had recorded a 7% less turnout-resulted in procedural delays that saw the voting process being pushed up to 9.30 pm as voting for the bypoll coincided with the assembly elections. But Nanded District Collector Abhijeet Raut was of the view that no such incidents would thwart the vote counting scheduled for November 23.
This by-election was necessitated by the death of Congress MP Vasant Chavan, and this makes the electoral contest a straight fight between his son Ravindra Chavan (Congress) and Santuk Hambarde of BJP. Both camps feel that this high turnout will work in their favour.
The six assembly constituencies falling under Nanded Lok Sabha seat recorded a percentage of higher turnout in rural areas than the urban ones. Bhokar constituency topped the chart with a high 76% followed by Naigaon and Mukhed with 74% and 70% respectively and Deglur (63%). Urban constituencies, like Nanded South and Nanded North 64% and 61%, respectively, displayed relatively lower participation.
The counting of votes for the bypoll and assembly elections under the Nanded Lok Sabha seat will happen at Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University. The counting for the remaining three assembly constituencies—Kinwat, Hadgaon, and Loha—will take place at their taluka headquarters itself.