About 66.45 percent voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm on Monday in the by-poll to the Gandey assembly seat in Jharkhand, officials said. 

The by-poll is being held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections for three constituencies – Chatra, Hazaribag, and Koderma. Voting started at 7 am in the assembly constituency and will continue till 5 pm.

“The Gandey assembly seat saw 66.45 percent voter turnout till 5 pm,” an official said. A total of 11 candidates, including Kalpana Soren, the wife of jailed former chief minister Hemant Soren, are in the fray. 

The BJP has fielded Dilip Kumar Verma from the Gandey assembly seat. The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Sarfaraz Ahmad, who was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed. 

Kalpana Soren said she is confident of winning, and people are voting for Hemant Soren as “a strong wave is in his favour”. "The people have given the mandate against the BJP in the first five phases (of Lok Sabha polls)... The INDIA bloc is going to form government at the Centre," she told PTI.