Fatehpur Assembly by-election: Out of 141 polling stations, 33 are sensitive

Dharamsala, October 28, 2021: In Fatehpur assembly constituency, a total of 87222 registered voters will exercise their franchise in the voting of the by elections to be held on October 30 out of which 85686 voters will exercise their franchise  at their respective polling stations while 1536 voters will exercise their vote by postal ballot. Informing this District Election Officer cum Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Nipun Jindal informed that there are 43158 male voters and 42528 female voters. Apart from this, 1507 male and 29 female service voters will ensure their participation through postal ballot in the category of service voters.
He said that apart from 111 polling stations in the assembly constituency, 30 auxiliary polling stations have been set up for the convenience of voters in view of the COVID pandemic, out of these polling stations, 33 are sensitive, 5 are very sensitive.
The Deputy Commissioner informed that 96 registered voters will exercise their franchise in Kutheda polling station located on an  island  of Pong lake under this  assembly constituency. He said that in the assembly elections held in the year 2017- 82 voters had cast their votes at this polling station while in the Lok Sabha elections-2019, 81 voters had cast their votes.
It is noteworthy that in the assembly elections held in the year 2017, out of 80793 registered voters of the assembly constituency, 58665 voters took part in the voting and a vote percentage of 72.61 was recorded in this election, whereas in the Lok Sabha elections-2019, out of the total 85410 voters of the assembly constituency, 59588 voters (i.e. 69.76 percent} voters casted their votes.
Fatehpur of Kangra district is among the three assembly segments and one parliamentary constituency going to polls on October 30 in Himachal
The by-election to the constituency was necessitated after the death of former Congress minister Sujan Singh Pathania, in February due to prolonged illness. Pathania  represented Fatehpur in the current assembly. Baldev Thakur (BJP), Bhawani Singh Pathania son of Sujan bSingh  (Congress), Pankaj Kumar Darshi of the HJP and independent candidates Ashok Kumar Somal and Rajan Sushant are in the fray for the Fatehpur seat.
In 2017, Sujan Singh Pathania of Indian National Congress won the seat by defeating Kripal Singh Parmar from Bharatiya Janata Party with a margin of 1284 votes and Pathania  also defeated Baldev Thakur of BJP by  a margin of 7217 votes in 2012 elections.