Today’s Latest News Live: As voting continues in West Bengal, a scuffle broke out between BJP candidate Manas Kumar Ghosh and TMC members in Raiganj. Ghosh is contesting the by-poll against TMC’s Krishna Kalyani. Meanwhile, in Uttarakhand, clashes broke out between two groups in Mangla. SP Rural Swapan Kishore Singh said no gunfight had been confirmed yet. Police forces have been deployed and efforts are being made to bring things back to normal, Singh said.
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Voting is underway in 13 constituencies across seven states — Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Polling will continue till 6 pm today and counting of votes will take place on July 13.
The by-elections are crucial in national politics as they will determine the direction of the ruling-opposition alliance ahead of the budget session starting on July 22. In four constituencies in West Bengal – Ranaghat Dakshin in Nadia, Bagda in North 24 Parghanth, Raiganj in Uttar Dinajpur and Maniktala in Kolkata – the BJP may be looking for breathing room after the TMC’s landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections. Of the three constituencies in Himachal Pradesh, Dera is the one to watch as Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukh, is contesting for the first time. In Jalandhar West in Punjab, the AAP is looking to regain support in the state after winning only three of the 13 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
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