By-Poll Elections: Voting Begins For 13 Assembly Seats Across 7 States | Check Full List, Important Candidates

The bypolls for across 13 assembly constituencies in seven states, marking the first electoral event since the Lok Sabha elections, have begun.

Both seasoned politicians and newcomers are in fray including Kamlesh Thakur, the wife of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, AAP's Mohinder Bhagat from Jalandhar and RJD's Bima Bharti from Rupauli constituency.

The bypolls are being held against vacancies created either due to deaths or resignation of incumbent members.

Bypolls To Be Held In 13 Assembly Seats Across 7 States| Full List

Bihar:

Rupauli

Himachal Pradesh:

Dehra

Hamirpur

Nalagarh

Madhya Pradesh:

Amarwara

Punjab:

Jalandhar West

Tamil Nadu:

Vikravandi

Uttarakhand:

Badrinath

Manglaur

West Bengal:

Raiganj

Ranaghat Dakshin

Bagda

Maniktala

West Bengal

In West Bengal, the upcoming bypolls are crucial for both the ruling TMC and the BJP. The TMC aims to build on its recent gains from the Lok Sabha elections, they won Maniktala seat in the 2021 West Bengal elections while the BJP won Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagda. Later, the BJP MLAs switched to the TMC.

The Maniktala bypoll was triggered by the passing of TMC MLA Sadhan Pandey in February 2022. His wife, Supti Pandey, is the TMC's candidate for the seat. Meanwhile, the TMC has also nominated Krishna Kalyani for Raiganj, Mukut Mani Adhikari for Ranaghat Dakshin, and Madhuparna Thakur, daughter of TMC Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur, for Bagda, a constituency with a significant Matua community.

Meanwhile, the BJP has fielded All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey for Maniktala, Manoj Kumar Biswas for Ranaghat Dakshin, Binay Kumar Biswas for Bagda, and Manas Kumar Ghosh for Raiganj.

The TMC's Lok Sabha success, securing 29 out of 42 seats, up from 22 in 2019, contrasts with the BJP's reduced tally of 12 seats, down from 18 in the previous elections.

Himachal Pradesh

In Himachal Pradesh, bypolls are being held for three assembly constituencies: Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh, following the resignation of three independent legislators—Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra, Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur, and K L Thakur from Nalagarh—who had supported the BJP in the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls.

The BJP has nominated these former Independent MLAs from their respective seats after they joined the party. A total of 13 candidates are contesting, with 259,340 voters eligible across the three segments.

In Dehra, Congress candidate Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, faces BJP's Hoshiyar Singh, one of the nine MLAs who voted against the Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls.

In Hamirpur, former Independent MLA Ashish Sharma, supported by the BJP, is challenged by Congress' Puspender Verma, while in Nalagarh, BJP-backed K L Thakur competes against Congress' Hardeep Singh Bawa. The entry of BJP dissident Harpreet Saini as an Independent has added a third dimension to the contest in Nalagarh.

During the recent Lok Sabha polls, the BJP secured leads in all three constituencies, setting the stage for closely watched bypolls.

Uttarakhand

Bypoll in Uttarakhand's two constituencies were required after the death of sitting Manglaur BSP MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari in October last year and resignation of sitting Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari from Badrinath who joined BJP later in March this year.

The BJP has never won the Muslim and Dalit-dominated Manglaur seat which has been held either by the Congress or the BSP in the past.

This time, the BSP has fielded Ansari's son Ubedur Rehman against Congress nominee Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin. Gujjar leader and BJP nominee Kartar Singh Bhadana is also in the fray.

Badrinath will witness a direct fight between BJP's Rajendra Bhandari and Congress newcomer Lakhpat Singh Butola.

Traditionally, the party in power in the state has an edge over its rivals in bypolls. Of the 15 bypolls held in Uttarakhand since its creation, 14 were won by the party in power.

Punjab

In Punjab, the bypoll for the Jalandhar West assembly constituency is being closely watched as a test of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's leadership. After the AAP's setbacks in the Lok Sabha polls, Mann is making a determined effort to secure victory.

The seat became vacant when Sheetal Angural resigned as AAP legislator, setting the stage for a competitive contest among fifteen candidates. A total of 1.72 lakh voters are eligible to cast their ballots.

AAP has nominated Mohinder Bhagat, son of former BJP MLA Bhagat Chunni Lal, who joined AAP last year. Congress has put forward Surinder Kaur, a prominent Dalit leader and former senior deputy mayor of Jalandhar. The BJP has fielded Angural, who switched sides from AAP in March after winning this seat in the 2022 Punjab assembly polls.

For Mann and AAP, winning this bypoll is crucial following their poor performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections, where they secured only three seats out of thirteen.

The BJP also sees the bypoll as an opportunity to redeem itself after failing to win any seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Bihar

The by-poll was necessitated in Rupauli seat after the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti who is contesting the by-election as the RJD candidate.

Bharti gave up her seat a few months ago when she quit the JD(U).

The JD(U) fielded Kaladhar Prasad Mandal who had contested the 2020 assembly polls from Rupauli as an Independent.

Paswan and other NDA allies, Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and BJP, canvassed for Mandal in the by-election, boosting prospects of the JD(U) candidate.

A total of 11 candidates are in fray from this seat.

Tamil Nadu

There are a total of 29 candidates in the fray in the Vikravandi by-election.

The seat fell vacant after the death of DMK legislator N Pugazhendhi, who died due to illness on April 6.

DMK nominated Anniyur Siva from the seat while PMK nominated Anbumani Ramadoss and the Tamil-nationalist NTK party nominated Dr Anuradha as their candidates for the seat.

Madhya Pradesh

Nine candidates are fighting for the Amarwara (ST) assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh, where a bypoll was necessitated after the Congress leader representing the constituency crossed over to the BJP and resigned.

According to PTI, the main contest here is between the former Congress MLA-turned-BJP leader Kamlesh Shah and the grand old party’s Dheeran Shah Invati.

The counting of votes for the bypolls will be held on July 13.