ECI announces by-election dates for Assembly seats across seven states

Voting for bypolls on seven Assembly seats in Rajasthan will be held on November 13, the results of which will be declared on November 23, according to the Election Commission of India.

At a press conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced the schedule for bypolls in 48 Assembly constituencies spread and two parliamentary constituencies spread across 15 states.

In Rajasthan, bypolls will be held in Jhunjhunu, Dausa, Deoli-Uniara, Khinvsar, Chaurasi, Salumbar and Ramgarh Assembly seats.

Out of the seven seats on which bypolls are to be held, four of them were with the Congress.

Two of these by-elections are being held due to the deaths of the MLAs: Ramgarh's Congress MLA Zubair Khan and Salumbar's BJP MLA Amritlal Meena.

In five constituencies, the MLAs were elected as MPs in the Lok Sabha polls, necessitating bypolls. They are Congress MLA Brijendra Ola from Jhunjhunu, Congress MLA Harish Chandra Meena from Dausa, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MLA Hanuman Beniwal from Khinsivar and Rajkumar Roat of Bharat Adivasi Party from Chaurasi.

Currently, the 200-seat state Assembly has 114 MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party, 65 of the Congress, three of the Bharat Adivasi Party, two of the Bahujan Samaj Party, one of the Rashtriya Lok Dal and eight Independent MLAs.

As per official data, there are 1,862 polling stations and 19,36,532 voters in the seven Assembly seats that will hold bypolls next month.

After the dates of the bypolls were announced, Congress state president Govind Dotasra the BJP "will get zero seats in the bypolls".

Taking a dig at the state government's tenure so far, he said, "The nine to ten months of BJP government in Rajasthan have left people completely disappointed and distressed. People are saying that the government has become a circus," he said.

The Assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20, while Jharkhand polls will be held in two phases on November 13 and 20, the Election Commission said. Votes will be counted on November 23.

Assam bypolls

The Election Commission also announced by-elections to five Assembly constituencies in Assam will be held on November 13.

While four of these constituencies were held by the BJP-led NDA, one was held by the Congress. The bypolls were necessitated as these Assembly constituencies fell vacant with the election of the incumbent MLAs to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.

Dholai's BJP MLA Parimal Suklabaidya was elected to the Lok Sabha from Silchar. Behali's BJP MLA Ranjit Dutta won the Sonitpur Lok Sabha seat.

BJP ally AGP's Bongaigaon MLA Phanibhushan Choudhury was elected to the Lok Sabha from Barpeta, while UPPL's Sidli MLA Joyanta Basumatary was elected from the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat.

Congress MLA from Samaguri, Rakibul Hussain, had won the Dhubri Lok Sabha seat by a record margin of over 10 lakh votes.

The ruling NDA has decided that the BJP will contest Dholai, Behali and Samaguri, while AGP will fight in Bongaigaon and the UPPL in Sidli.

State Congress president Bhupen Borah went to New Delhi to finalise the party's strategy and candidates for the bypolls.

The notification for the bypolls will be issued on October 18, and the last date for filing nominations is October 25. The scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on October 28, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 30.

The votes will be counted on November 23.

Sikkim bypolls

The Election Commission also announced bypolls to the Soreng-Chakhung and Namchi-Singhithang Assembly constituencies will be held on November 13.

The Soreng-Chakung Assembly seat was vacated by Chief Minister Tamang who decided to retain the Rhenock constituency after winning the Assembly elections from both the segments. The Namchi-Singhithang seat fell vacant after the CM's wife Krishna Kumari Rai resigned days after being elected as its MLA.

In a statement, the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) said it was confident about securing a landslide victory in both Assembly constituencies as the Himalayan state has witnessed significant progress in all sectors under the leadership of CM Tamang.

The SKM will set another milestone similar to the historic results of recent Assembly elections, it claimed.

The party will soon set up a parliamentary committee to select candidates for the upcoming by-elections, it added.

The SKM had won 31 of the 32 seats in the Assembly elections held along with the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. Later, the lone SDF MLA Tenzing Norbu Lamtha, who was elected from Shyari, switched sides, leaving the House without any opposition.

According to the EC, the gazette notification for the by-elections will be issued on October 18, while the last date for filing nominations is October 25.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on October 28, and October 30 is the last date to withdraw candidature. The counting of votes will be held on November 23.

Madhya Pradesh bypolls

Upcoming byelections to Budhni and Vijaypur Assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh pose a fresh challenge for the Congress which had lost the last bypoll from Amarwara in Chhindwara district, sources said.

The byelections to Budhni, earlier represented by BJP veteran and Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Vijaypur, will be held on November 13 and votes will be counted on November 23.

The Budhni seat in Sehore district fell vacant after sitting MLA and ex-CM Chouhan was elected to Lok Sabha from the Vidisha constituency. The contest for the Vijaypur segment, situated in Sheopur district, became necessary after senior Congress leader Ramniwas Rawat resigned and joined the BJP.

Rawat was subsequently inducted into the Madhya Pradesh cabinet headed by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.

"With the ECI announcing the bypolls schedule, the election process will start with the issuance of a gazette notification on October 18," a poll official said on Tuesday.

The last date for filing nominations for the bypolls is October 25 and scrutiny of forms will be done on October 28. The deadline for the withdrawal of candidature is October 30.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's election committee held a meeting here on Monday to scrutinise candidates for the two seats Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh where by-elections are slated to be held.

A senior BJP leader said the party's election committee had cleared Rawat's name for the Vijaypur seat and approved the names of former MP Ramakant Bhargava, Raghunath Singh Bhati, Ravi Malviya, and former CM Chouhan's son Kartikeya for the Budhni seat.

"The names have almost been finalised and will be sent to the party's central election committee, which will decide on them," he had told PTI.

Notably, BJP's Kamlesh Shah had won the Amarwara (ST) seat by more than 3,200 votes, defeating his nearest Congress rival Dheeran Shah Invati in July.

Uttarakhand bypolls

The bypoll for the Kedarnath Assembly seat in Uttarakhand will be held on November 20, the Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday.

The seat fell vacant following the death of MLA Shaila Rawat in July. Rawat won the seat on a BJP ticket in the 2022 Assembly polls. She had represented the seat in 2012 also as a Congress MLA.

She lost in 2017 but regained it in 2022.

The Kedarnath seat, located in Rudraprayag district, is part of the Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency, currently held by the BJP.

According to Additional Chief Election Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande, the notification for the bypoll will be issued on October 22, with October 29 as the last date for filing nominations.

Scrutiny of nominations will take place on October 30, and November 4 is the last date for withdrawal, Jogdande said.

Counting will be held on November 23, he said.

The model code of conduct is now in effect in the district and will remain in force until November 25, the officer said.

Welcoming the announcement of the bypoll date, Pradesh BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Mahendra Bhatt expressed confidence that the party will repeat its "wonderful" poll performances of Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir in Kedarnath.

"As in Haryana and Jammu Kashmir, here too people are going to deflate the balloon of Congress' lies," he said.

He claimed that the BJP will win the seat with a record number of votes on the strength of the historic work done in the constituency by the double engine government.

Being a cadre based party, BJP workers are always in the midst of the people of the constituency, he said.

The party is fully prepared for the polls, with its booth and Panna committees, constituted at the time of the Lok Sabha polls, already active, he added.

Punjab bypolls

The Election Commission of India (ECI) also announced that by-elections to four Assembly seats -- Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC), Gidderbaha, and Barnala --in Punjab will be held on November 13.

Counting of the votes will take place on November 23, said Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sibin C.

The four Assembly seats fell vacant after MLAs from these constituencies were elected to the Lok Sabha.

Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, who was Congress MLA from Gidderbaha, was elected from the Ludhiana parliamentary seat while Raj Kumar Chabbewal, a Congress MLA who later joined AAP, became MP from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat.

Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who was Congress MLA from Dera Baba Nanak seat, got elected from Gurdaspur parliamentary seat. Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, who was AAP MLA from Barnala, was elected as MP from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.

The Punjab CEO said the notification for the by-elections will be issued on October 18.

The last date for filing nominations is October 25 and the scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted on October 28, Sibin C said, adding that the last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 30.

He further said with the announcement of the bypoll dates, the election code of conduct has come into effect in the districts where these constituencies are located -- Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Sri Muktsar Sahib, and Barnala.

The code of conduct will remain in force until the completion of the election process till November 25.

Sibin C said as of October 10, the total number of voters in the four constituencies is 6,96,316, with a total of 831 polling stations.

The Dera Baba Nanak seat has 1,93,268 electors and it will have 241 polling stations. In Chabbewal (SC) reserve seat, the number of voters is 1,59,254, with 205 polling stations.

The CEO added that in Gidderbaha, the voter count stands at 1,66,489 with 173 polling stations. Barnala has 1,77,305 voters and will have 212 polling stations.

Sibin C informed that Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta and Hoshiarpur DC Komal Mittal have been appointed as the district election officers (DEO) for the Dera Baba Nanak and Chabbewal (SC) Assembly seats, respectively.

DC Muktsar Rajesh Tripathi has been appointed as DEO for the Gidderbaha constituency, and Barnala DC Poonamdeep Kaur will be the DEO for Barnala seat.

Additionally, the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Dera Baba Nanak has been appointed as the returning officer for that constituency, while the additional deputy commissioner of Hoshiarpur has been named the returning officer for Chabbewal (SC).

The SDMs of Gidderbaha and Barnala have been appointed as the returning officers for their respective Assembly segments.

Gujarat bypolls

Both the ruling BJP and main opposition Congress on Tuesday expressed confidence of winning the bypoll to Vav assembly seat in Gujarat.

The Election Commission earlier in the day announced that the by-election will be held on November 13 while counting of votes will take place on November 23. The seat fell vacant after sitting Congress MLA Geniben Thakor resigned in June after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Banaskantha.

Vav has been a Congress stronghold with Thakor winning from there in 2017 and 2022. In a video message, Thakor said just like the previous polls, people from all communities will ensure Congress' victory in the bypoll too. "Voters of all communities gave their blessings to Congress in 2017, 2022 and in the Lok Sabha polls. Our workers always remained in contact with the people of Vav. All of us party workers will work together to ensure victory of the Congress candidate," she said.

The BJP's Banaskantha district president Kirtisinh Vaghela said he was confident that the saffron party will certainly win this time. Thakor, a two-time MLA, defeated BJP candidate Rekhaben Chaudhary, who was fighting her first election, from the Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat by a margin of more than 30,000 votes. She was the only Congress candidate to win in Gujarat. In 2017, Thakor emerged as a giant killer when she defeated senior BJP leader and current assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary, who was then a state minister, from Vav assembly seat. The Visavadar assembly seat in Gujarat's Junagadh district is also vacant since the sitting AAP MLA Bhupendra aka Bhupat Bhayani resigned and joined the BJP.

But as petitions challenging Bhayani's election are still pending before the Gujarat High Court, bypoll to the constituency was not announced.

Congress' strength in the 182-seat assembly is 12. The ruling BJP has 161 MLAs. There are four legislators of the AAP, one of the Samajwadi Party and two independents.