Bye-elections to fill four vacant Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu and one each in Goa and Karnataka will take place on May 19, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday. The date coincides with the last phase of voting for the Lok Sabha elections.
Votes will be counted on May 23, along with those cast in the Lok Sabha polls.
Last month, the Election Commission had announced bye-elections for only 18 of the 21 vacant seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, scheduling them along with the Lok Sabha elections in the state on April 18. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had moved the Supreme Court against the Election Commission’s decision to not announce bye-elections for Aravakurichi, Ottapidaram and Thiruparankundram constituencies.
On March 21, the death of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLA from Sulur took the number of vacancies to 22.
The Election Commission also announced the bye-election for Panaji constituency of Goa and Kundgol constituency of Karnataka. The Panaji seat was vacated by the death of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on March 17. Kundgol MLA CS Shivalli died on March 22.
The bye-election date in these constituencies is, however, different from the date when voters choose their parliamentary representative. The Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu will take place on April 18, in Goa on April 23, and in Karnataka on both these days.
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