Cong poised for victory on Wayanad seat, INDIA Bloc in Jharkhand Assembly polls: Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi: As polling for the first phase of Jharkhand Assembly elections and on the Wayanad parliamentary seat in Kerala was underway, senior Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit on Wednesday asserted that his party would taste victory in the Assembly polls and also on the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat.

Speaking to IANS, Sandeep Dikshit asserted, "I am expecting that large number of people will come and cast their votes today. I hope that the polls will be conducted peacefully. We are also hoping that there should be no irregularities in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). I think that the EVMs should not work as agents of any political party."

"See in the case of Wayanad, I am expecting the Congress to win there for sure. Priyanka Gandhi will win with a majority of votes. But, if we talk about the Jharkhand Assembly polls, there the INDIA Bloc will come to power again. Hemant Soren will form the government this time too," he added.

Voting for the first phase of the Jharkhand Assembly elections is being held on Wednesday with 43 of the state's 81 seats across 15 districts going to poll.

In Jharkhand, the ruling JMM has fielded 23 candidates and its allies Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have put forward 17 and 5 candidates, respectively.

The Opposition BJP has fielded 36 candidates, while the Janata Dal-United (JDU) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have nominated 2 and 7 candidates, respectively. The second phase of elections will be held on November 20 and the votes will be counted on November 23.

Meanwhile, brisk polling was seen in Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Chelakkara Assembly seats in Kerala as they witnessed a turnout of 20.54 and 19.08 per cent, respectively, after the first three hours of voting on Wednesday.

The election process, held amidst tight security arrangements, was primarily incident-free except for EVM breakdowns reported in some booths of Wayanad and Chelakkara.

The voter turnout in Wayanad LS constituency was 13.7 per cent at 9.30 A.M. barely rose to 13.91 per cent at 10 A.M. and then shot up to 20.54 at 10.30 A.M. according to figures released by the Election Commission (EC).

It is a holiday in Wayanad LS and Chelakkara Assembly constituencies on account of the bypolls.