Khair Bypoll Election 2024: By-elections were held on 9 assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh on November 20 and now all eyes are on the results to be announced on Saturday (November 23). All preparations for counting of votes have also been completed at Khair assembly seat of Aligarh. A lot of enthusiasm was seen among the voters here during the voting. 

Before the results of the by-election, candidates of all parties including SP, BJP, BSP are claiming their victory. After voting on Khair seat, EVMs have been kept in the strong room in Dhanipur Mandi of Aligarh under tight security. Here three-layer security has been arranged to monitor the EVMs. 

Counting will start from 8 am
. 426 booths were set up during voting in Khair seat. Counting of votes will start here from 8 am on 23 November. As part of the counting, many magistrates have been deployed at the counting place in Dhanipur Mandi. This time special public representatives have not been made agents. Public representatives who have security have been kept away from the post of agents.

It will be mandatory for all agents to reach the Dhanipur Mandi counting site by 7 am. People going inside the counting site will be allowed to carry only pen and diary. In view of the security arrangements, restrictions have been imposed on carrying many things to the counting site. Under this, entry with mobile phones, bidi-cigarettes, water bottles and other equipment and items has been banned. 

Counting will be done in 31 rounds;
Similarly, for counting of votes, the administration will give one calculator to each candidate. 14 tables have been set up for counting EVM votes. Counting of votes cast at 426 booths of Khair Assembly constituency will be completed in a total of 31 rounds. On the other hand, counting of ballot papers will be done on a separate table. Videography will also be done for fair and peaceful voting. 
 
Every moment will be videographed
. The lock of the strong room made in Dhanipur Mandi will be opened at 6 am. Everything from opening the lock to counting of votes will be videographed. The administration has invited the candidates to monitor this work. After this, the agents of the candidates will get entry. 

Agents will enter from gate number two of the Mandi, while counting personnel will enter from gate number one. It will be mandatory for all the people present at the counting place to follow the rules. After this, counting of votes will start from 8 o'clock. First of all, Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) i.e. service votes will be counted. A separate table has been set up for this. 

Special corridor made for EVMs
Candidates can appoint an agent on the table made for counting ETPBS votes. Votes will be scanned and accepted through scanner on this table. 14 tables have been set up separately for counting other ballot papers. The administration has prepared a special corridor to bring EVMs from the strong room to the counting place. Counting of 14 booths will be completed in one round. Counting of all votes will be completed by noon in 31 rounds.

BJP's credibility is at stake
in Khair seat, the contest is very interesting. BJP has won the last two assembly elections from here. SP has fielded Charu Kain from Khair, while BJP has fielded Surendra Dilre and BSP has fielded Pehal Singh. Nitin Kumar Chotel is also struggling for victory for the first time from Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), apart from this Bhupendra Kumar Dhangar is in the fray from Rashtriya Shoshit Samaj Party.

Before BJP, this seat was considered to be the stronghold of RLD. However, this time there is an alliance between Bharatiya Janata Party and RLD. With the help of this alliance, BJP is trying to score a hattrick of victory from Khair. If political experts are to be believed, the main contest here is between SP and BJP. In such a situation, BJP's credibility is at stake in Khair.