New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Contrary to the brisk polling in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the by-elections for three seats (one in Gujarat and two in Maharashtra) started on a modest note and the polling percentage hovered around 30 per cent by Thursday noon.

In Gujarat’s Umreth seat, polling was recorded at 37.14 per cent till 1 p.m. while in Maharashtra’s Baramati and Rahuri, the voting percentage stood at 31.91 per cent and 29.68 per cent respectively.

Earlier also, Umreth seat led the pack by clocking 26 per cent voting till 11 a.m. while two seats in Maharashtra polling close to 20 per cent each.

The by-elections are being held to fill the Assembly constituencies in two states, that fell vacant before the completion of their term.

In Maharashtra, the by-elections got necessitated due to death of sitting legislators.

In Maharashtra, Rahuri and Baramati seats fell vacant following untimely demise of sitting legislators — Shivaji Bhanudas Kardile and Ajit Pawar respectively.

In Gujarat, voting is underway in Umreth Assembly constituency following the demise of MLA Govind Parmar.

The by-elections were announced for eight constituencies across six states — Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Tripura.

The Assembly constituencies in Goa, Karnataka, Nagaland and Tripura went to polls on April 9 while those in Gujarat and Maharashtra are polling on Thursday.

Meanwhile, voting is also going on at brisk pace for Tamil Nadu and first phase of the Assembly elections in West Bengal.

Voting is set to conclude in both states by 6 p.m. on Thursday.

The elections for Tamil Nadu Assembly, comprising 234 constituencies, is being held in a single phase while in West Bengal, the elections are spread in two phases — first phase covering 152 constituencies and the second phase covering 142 seats.

A total of 1,478 candidates are in the poll fray in the first phase of polling in West Bengal.

The counting of votes for all by-elections will take place on May 4, the same day when results for Assembly elections in five states/UTs — Assam, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will be declared.

–IANS

mr/khz