One Lok Sabha, 31 assembly seats go to polls Saturday

Voters in 31 assembly constituencies in seven states and one Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh will cast their votes Saturday to elect new representatives.

The assembly by-polls will be held for 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 10 in West Bengal, three in Kerala, two each in Rajasthan, Assam and Himachal Pradesh and one seat in Chhattisgarh.

Counting of votes will be held Nov 10.

The Election Commission said electronic voting machines (EVMs) would be used in all the polling stations.

"Adequate numbers of EVMs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the poll is conducted smoothly," an Election Commission official said Thursday.

Campaigning for the by-polls ends Thursday evening.

The by-election to Firozabad parliamentary constituency is being held following the resignation of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh, who had also been elected from Kannauj.

The Samajwadi Party has fielded Akhilesh's wife Dimple as its candidate, while the Congress has fielded film star Raj Babbar, a former Samajwadi Party MP.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi addressed a rally Oct 30 in support of Raj Babbar. Akhilesh, on the same day, took out a cycle rally in the constituency seeking votes for his wife.

Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh said: "We love Rahul Gandhi but the Congress is betraying us by its activities in Firozabad."

The by-elections in West Bengal are being viewed as a litmus test for the ruling Left Front before the 2011 assembly polls.

Communist Party of India-Marxist's (CPI-M) ailing leader Jyoti Basu appealed to Congress supporters to vote for the state's ruling Left Front candidates in the by-polls.

The appeal from the veteran leader came when the CPI-M-led Left Front is passing though one of its worst electoral phases in its 32-year unbroken reign. The opposition Trinamool Congress is steadily breaking into Communist electoral strongholds in the state.

In Kerala, Kannur assembly seat, considered a Communist bastion, is witnessing a keen fight between the Congress and the ruling CPI-M.

The Congress has fielded A.P. Abdulla Kutty, who till early this year was a two-time Lok Sabha MP of the CPI-M. The Marxist party has fielded a heavyweight candidate in M.V. Jayarajan, who had won from the nearby Edakadu constituency in 1996 and 2001.

Last updated on Nov 5^th, 2009 at 13:55 pm IST--IANS