Voting has begun in 13 Assembly constituencies in seven states in the first by-polls held since the Lok Sabha elections. The elections are being held in West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
The assembly seats going to polls are Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda and Maniktala (West Bengal); Badrinath and Manglaur (Uttarakhand); Jalandhar West (Punjab); Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh); Rupauli (Bihar); Vikravandi (Tamil Nadu) and Amarwara (Madhya Pradesh).
The by-polls were necessitated due to deaths or resignations of incumbent members.
Prominent names seeking mandate include Congress candidate and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur (Dehra), BJP candidate and All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey from (Maniktala) and Supti Pandey (Maniktala).
Others are:
West Bengal
The TMC is facing the bypolls to the four seats, buoyed by the success in the Lok Sabha elections. One of the fierce contests is in Maniktala where TMC's Supti Pandey will face All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey from Maniktala. The seat fell vacant after death of sitting TMC MLA and Supti's husband Sadhan Pandey in February 2022.
Other TMC candidates in the fray include Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin. In Badgah, a Matua-majority constituency, the TMC has fielded Madhuparna Thakur, a member of the Matua Thakurbari and daughter of party Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur.
While Raiganj, Ranaghat Kakshin and Bagda were won the BJP in the last elections, the MLAs later switched to the TMC. The BJP has fielded All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey from Maniktala, Manoj Kumar Biswas from Ranaghat Dakshin, Binay Kumar Biswas from Bagdah and Manas Kumar Ghosh from Raiganj.
Himachal Pradesh
In Himachal Pradesh, the Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh seats fell vacant after independent legislators Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh) resigned from the House on March 22. They had voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls held on February 27, later joining the party. They have been fielded by the BJP from their respective seats.
While Congress's Dehra candidate is Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur, Puspender Verma will take on Ashish Sharma in Hamirpur, the home district of Sukhu. In Nalagarh, Thakur is facing old rival Hardeep Singh Bawa of the Congress. However, the presence of BJP dissident Harpreet Saini, who is contesting as an Independent, will make it complex.
The BJP got a lead in all three assembly constituencies during the recently held Lok Sabha polls.
Uttarakhand
In Uttarakhand's Manglaur constituency, left vacant after the death of sitting BSP MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari in October last year, Ubedur Rehman will take on Congress's Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin. Gujjar leader and BJP nominee Kartar Singh Bhadana is also in the fray.
Rehman is Ansari's son and the Muslim and Dalit-dominated seat is a BSP/Congress stronghold.
The Badrinath assembly seat fell vacant after sitting Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari resigned and switched to the BJP in March this year. Bhandari is the BJP candidate and will take on Congress newcomer Lakhpat Singh Butola.
Punjab
The Jalandhar West is seen as a critical seat for the AAP, considering the drubbing the party received in the Lok Sabha elections. The seat fell vacant after Sheetal Angural resigned as AAP legislator. AAP has fielded Mohinder Bhagat, the son of former minister and former BJP MLA Bhagat Chunni Lal while Angural is facing a mandate as the BJP candidate.
Interestingly, Bhagat had joined the AAP after quitting the BJP last year.
The Congress has placed its bet on Surinder Kaur, who is the former senior deputy mayor and five-time municipal councillor in Jalandhar. She is a prominent Dalit leader of the Ravidassia community.
