Polling will be held on July 10 and counting of votes on July 13. (Representative image/PTI)
Polling to 13 Assembly constituencies in seven states, including four in West Bengal, will be held on July 10.
After a high-voltage contest in the recently held Lok Sabha polls 2024, the INDIA bloc and the BJP-led NDA will lock horns on July 10 as 13 Assembly constituencies in seven states, including four in West Bengal, go to polls. The counting of votes will take place on July 13.
Polling shall be conducted against vacancies created by the death or resignation of the remaining members.
The Assembly seats to be elected are: Rupauli in Bihar, Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagdah and Maniktala (all in West Bengal), Vikravandi (Tamil Nadu), Amarwara (Madhya Pradesh), Badrinath and Manglaur (Uttarakhand), Jalandhar West (Punjab) . ) and Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh).
13 Seats in 7 States to Go to Bypolls
West Bengal
Raiganj: In 2021, BJP won Raiganj seat but MLA Krishna Kalyani later joined TMC. Trinamool has fielded Krishna Kalyani again from his former seat. Meanwhile, the BJP fielded local party leader Manas Kumar Ghosh.
Maniktala: The seat fell vacant after the death of TMC leader Sadhan Pandey on 20 February 2022. Notably, polling for the seat had not yet taken place when BJP candidate Kalyan Chaubey filed a petition alleging poll irregularities in the 2021 Assembly elections. However, Chaubey later withdrew the petition.
TMC has nominated Sadhan Pande’s wife, Supti Pande, for the upcoming elections. BJP is against Kalyan Chaubey.
Baghdad: BJP won this seat in North 24 Parganas in 2021. However, the winning candidate, Biswajit Das, returned to TMC. Das was nominated in the Lok Sabha polls by TMC, but he was defeated by BJP’s Shantanu Thakur in Bongaon constituency.
The TMC has nominated Madhuparna Thakur as its candidate, while the BJP has fielded a local leader, Binay Kumar Biswas.
Ranaghat Dakhshin: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, BJP MLA Mukut Mani Adhikari joined the TMC and was named as the candidate for the Ranaghat seat. However, Adhikari lost to BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar. He will contest again from the seat as the TMC candidate against BJP’s Manoj Kumar Biswas.
Uttarakhand
Badrinath: The Badrinath seat fell vacant after Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari resigned in March and joined the BJP. The BJP has nominated Bhandari from Badrinath while the Congress has fielded Lakhpat Butola, a former district panchayat president.
Mangalore: The Manglaur seat bypoll is necessitated by the death of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari in October 2023.
The Congress has nominated senior party leader Qazi Nizamuddin for the seat, a Muslim-majority constituency, which he has won three times, in 2002, 2007, and 2017.
Punjab
The Jalandhar West bypoll was necessitated after the resignation of AAP MLA Sheetal Angural, who joined the BJP.
Himachal Pradesh
A close contest will be witnessed in Himachal Pradesh, with Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh going to the polls. All eyes will be on Dehra, Congress has chosen Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
Tamil Nadu
The bypoll in Vikravandi seat was necessitated after the death of DMK MLA N Pughazenthi in April this year. The seat will witness a three-cornered contest between DMK, PMK, (NDA constituents) and Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK).
Bihar
The bypoll in Bihar’s Rupauli was necessitated after the resignation of JD(U) MLA Bima Bharti, who joined the RJD and contested the Lok Sabha polls from Purnia.
Madhya Pradesh
The Amarwara (ST) Assembly seat is up for grabs in Madhya Pradesh after Kamlesh Shah, the Congress leader representing the constituency, defected to the BJP and resigned ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.