The bypolls for seven assembly seats across six states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, commenced at 7 am on Tuesday. Notably, this marks the first electoral contest between the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), an opposition bloc.
The bypolls are taking place in several constituencies: Puthupally in Kerala, Dhupguri in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, Dumri in Jharkhand, and Bageshwar, Boxanagar, and Dhanpur in Tripura. The Election Commission is scheduled to announce the bypoll results on September 8.
The need for these bypolls arose due to the unfortunate demise of sitting MLAs in five states, while two other MLAs resigned from their positions. For instance, in Ghosi, Uttar Pradesh, the bypoll was necessitated by the re-election of Dara Singh Chauhan as Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA. Chauhan later joined the BJP, and he is now contesting for the BJP against SP’s Sudhakar Singh in the Ghosi bypoll.
In Tripura’s Dhanpur, the by-election was triggered by the resignation of the BJP’s Pratima Bhoumik, who wanted to retain her Lok Sabha seat, resulting in the vacant assembly position. Bindu Debnath, Bhoumik’s brother, is now the BJP candidate in the Dhanpur bypoll, facing off against Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Kaushik Chanda.
The Boxanagar seat in Tripura became vacant following the passing of CPI (MK) MLA Samsul Haque. The BJP and CPI (M) are competing against each other in the bypoll.
Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar seat saw a by-election due to the passing of BJP MLA Chandan Ram Dass. The bypoll in Jharkhand’s Dumri was necessitated by the death of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA Jagarnath Mahto. Lastly, West Bengal’s Dhupguri seat needed a by-election after the death of BJP’s Bishnu Pada Ray. The election features candidates from various parties contesting for these vacant seats.
