Around 50 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the Handia Assembly bypoll here today. The polling went off peacefully amid heavy security. The counting of votes will take place on June 5. The Election Commission had extended the voting time by two hours from 7 am to 6 pm because of the heat wave prevailing then. But with the city experiencing rains in the last two days,voters came out in good numbers during the day time too. From 7 am to 9 am,only 9 per cent voters had exercised their franchise. By 3 pm,it reached 41 per cent. The seat had fallen vacant following the death of then SP MLA Mahesh Narayan Singh. Singh had defeated Rakesh Dhar Tripathi,who had contested from little known Pragatisheel Manav Samaj Party after being ousted from the BSP,by a huge margin in the 2012 elections. Tripathi has now been rehabilitated by the BSP and given the partys Lok Sabha ticket from Mirzapur. Mahesh Narayan Singhs son Prashant Kumar Singh (26) and Tripathis nephew,Pankaj Tripathi,are the SP and BSP candidates,respectively. Congress Amrit Lal Bind and BJP Vidyakant Tiwari were the other two main candidates.
