Voting for bye-elections is underway in 13 Assembly constituencies in seven states on Wednesday. These are the first bye-polls that are taking place after the 2024 Lok Sabha election, in which the National Democratic Alliance retained power with a reduced majority.
Voting is taking place in Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda and Maniktala in West Bengal; Badrinath and Manglaur in Uttarakhand, Jalandhar West in Punjab Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh, Rupauli in Bihar, Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu and Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh.
The counting of votes will take place on July 13.
West Bengal
Bye-elections are being held in Maniktala on account of the death of sitting Trinamool Congres MLA Sadhan Pandey in 2022. Bye-polls are being held in Raiganj, Bagdah and Ranaghat Dakshin as the BJP MLAs from these seats switched to the Trinamool Congress and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
The BJP MLAs who switched sides were Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj, Biswajit Das from Bagdah and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin. All three contested the Lok Sabha election on Trinamool Congress tickets but lost to the BJP.
The Trinamool Congress has fielded Kalyani from Raiganj and Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin for the Assembly bye-election. From Bagdah, the party has nominated Madhuparna Thakur as Das reportedly did not want to contest the election.
Himachal Pradesh
In Himachal Pradesh, the Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh seats fell vacant after the three independent legislators Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra), Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur) and KL Thakur from Nalagarh, resigned from the House on March 22.
The three had voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls held on February 27. They later joined the Hindutva party.
The BJP has fielded all three of them in the Assembly bye-election.
Uttarakhand
In the neighbouring hill state Uttarakhand, the Manglaur constituency fell vacant after the death of sitting Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari in October. The BJP has never won the Muslim and Dalit-dominated seat, It has been held either by the Congress or the Bahujan Samaj Party, reported The Hindu.
The Badrinath seat fell vacant after sitting Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari resigned and switched to the BJP in March.
Punjab
In Punjab, the bye-polls in Jalandhar West were necessitated after Sheetal Angural resigned as Aam Aadmi Party legislator.
The polls are crucial for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the state following its disappointing performance in Punjab in the Lok Sabha polls. The Aam Aadmi Party only won three of the state’s 13 Lok Sabha seats.
Ahead of the bye-election, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his family relocated to Jalandhar to consolidate his party’s voter base in the constituency.
The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded Mohinder Bhagat, the son of former minister and former BJP MLA Bhagat Chunni Lal. The Congress has fielded Surinder Kaur, former senior deputy mayor and five-time municipal councillor in Jalandhar.
Kaur is a prominent Dalit leader of the Ravidassia community.
Madhya Pradesh
The bye-polls in Chhindwara are crucial for former chief minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, whose son Nakul Nath lost the family bastion to the BJP in the Lok Sabha election. The Nath family held the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat almost continuously from 1980 to 2024, except for 1997, when the BJP won it in a bye-election and held it for a year.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!