Voting for the bypolls in 13 Assembly seats across seven states – West Bengal, Punjab, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh – are underway on Wednesday, July 10. The polling that began at 7 am will continue till 6 pm.
The results of the Assembly bypolls will be declared on July 13.
Why are these Assembly bypolls important?
The bypolls on these 13 Assembly constituencies are crucial as it is the first electoral exercise after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Of the seven states where Assembly byelections are being conducted on July 10, four are ruled by Congress led opposition bloc – INDI Alliance while the rest three have a BJP or NDA government.
The Assembly bypolls on Wednesday will decide the fate of many veterans along with a few debutantes including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur.
Why are these bypolls being conducted?
The bypolls on Wednesday are being conducted due to vacancies caused by deaths or resignations of incumbent members.
Assembly bypolls: State-wise seats where polling is underway
West Bengal – 4 constituencies – Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, Maniktala
Himachal Pradesh – 3 constituencies – Dehra, Hamirpur, Nalagarh
Uttarakhand – 2 constituencies – Badrinath, Manglaur
Punjab – 1 constituency – Jalandhar West
Bihar – 1 constituency – Rupauli
Tamil Nadu – 1 constituency – Vikravandi
Madhya Pradesh – 1 constituency – Amarwara.
Bypolls in West Bengal
Of the four Assembly seats where bypolls are being held on Wednesday, three were won by the BJP in 2021 but are now vacant after members defected to Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.
In 2021, the BJP had won Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagda, while TMC bagged victory on the Maniktala seat. Bypoll in Maniktala has been necessitated by the death of sitting Trinamool MLA Sadhan Pandey in February 2022.
In the ongoing bypolls, both TMC and the BJP have high-stakes. Mamata Banerjee’s party has been aiming to capatilise on its improved performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, while the BJP has been seeking to leverage its remarkable leads in the four constituencies during the parliamentary elections.
Poll violence in Bengal: With polling underway, reports of violence began pouring in from West Bengal’s Ranaghat-Dakshin constituency in Nadia district where TMC workers allegedly vandalised houses of local BJP workers.
BJP polling booth agent Ranjit Mondal claimed that his house was vandalised on Wednesday morning by TMC workers and shots were fired at his home.
Mondal said that the TMC “wants to scare” him as he is a polling agent of the BJP. “I have lodged a complaint with the Election Commission over the attack,” he said.
However, the TMC denied the allegations.
The BJP also alleged that around 35 TMC workers, with their faces covered, attacked the houses of its panchayat members Amal Biswas and Golak Mondal in the Payradanga area of the Ranaghat-Dakshin constituency on Tuesday night.
Himachal bypolls
Bypolls in three Himachal Pradesh Assembly seats were necessitated after three independent MLAs, who supported the BJP in Rajya Sabha polls, resigned from the House.
The BJP has fielded these three former Himachal MLAs from their respective seats after they joined the party.
Meanwhile, Kamlesh Thakur, the wife of chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, has been fielded by the Congress party from Dehra.
The BJP gained leads in all three Assembly constituencies during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Bypoll in Uttarakhand
The bypoll in Uttarakhand’s Manglaur Assembly seat will see a three-cornered contest among BSP, BJP and Congress.
The election on this Assembly constituency is being held after the death of BSP MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari in October last year.
The BJP has never won the Muslim- and Dalit-dominated Manglaur seat which has so far been held either by the Congress or the BSP.
In the ongoing Manglaur constituency bypoll, Congress has nominated senior leader Qazi Nizamuddin, while the BJP has fielded Kartar Singh Bhadana.
The bypoll in Badrinath Assembly seat will see a direct fight between BJP’s Rajendra Bhandari, who recently switched from the Congress, and Congress newcomer Lakhpat Singh Butola.
Punjab bypolls
The bypoll on Jalandhar West Assembly seat is a crucial test for Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after their poor show in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Mann has actively campaigned for the AAP’s candidate, Mohinder Bhagat who has been fielded from the seat.
The BJP has also been pinning hope on bagging the seat after failing to win any seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Bihar bypolls
In Bihar, the Rupauli constituency bypoll is seen as a tough contest between the RJD and JD(U). Both the parties have fielded candidates from the predominant Gangota community.
Madhya Pradesh bypolls
For the Madhya Pradesh’s Amarwara bypolls, BJP has fielded Kamlesh Shah, while for Congress Dheeran Shah Invati is contesting in the tribal-dominated area.
Tamil Nadu bypolls
Tamil Nadu’s Vikravandi bypolls will not see any candidate from AIADMK as the party has chosen to boycott the election citing concerns over the fairness of the electoral process.
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Violence in Bengal as bypolls underway on 13 Assembly seats across 7 states
