Hamirpur Assembly bypolls underway in UP

Hamirpur (Uttar Pradesh), Sep 23 (IANS) Bye-election voting for Hamirpur Assembly segment seat began on Monday amid tight security.According to the district returning officer Abhishek Prakash, polling began at 7 a.m. and will continue till 5 p.m.The bye-election was necessitated after the disqualification of BJP MLA Ashok Singh Chandel, who was convicted in a murder case in May. There are 257 polling stations and four zonal magistrates, 36 sector magistrates and 10 static magistrates deployed to ensure free and fair polls, Prakash said.A total of 4,01,497 electorate will exercise their franchise and 572 EVMs, along with 619 VVPAT machines set up for the purpose.BJP has fielded Yuvraj Singh, BSP Naushad Ali, Congress Hardeep Nishad and Samajwadi Party Manoj Prajapati. The CPI candidate is Jamal Alam Mansori. There are four Independent candidates in the fray, as well.
--IANS amita/in