At seven in the morning on Tuesday, voting began for the seven assembly constituencies in six states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal, and Jharkhand. Notably, this is the first election between the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) of the opposition bloc and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Bye-elections are being held for the Puthupally seat in Kerala, the Dhupguri seat in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri, the Dumri seat in Jharkhand and the Bageshwar seat in Uttarkhand, as well as the Boxanagar and Dhanpur seats in Tripura. On Friday, September 8, the Election Commission will announce the results of the bye-elections.
Bypolls in five states were necessitated due to the deaths of the sitting MLAs, while the two other MLAs resigned from their posts. In Uttar Pradesh’s Ghosi, Dara Singh Chauhan’s reelection as Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA necessitated bypolls. Chauhan joined the BJP after leaving the SP. The BJP has filed Chauhan against SP’s Sudhakar Singh for the Ghose byelections.
Bye-election in Tripura’s Dhanpur was necessitated after the BJP’s Pratima Bhoumik resigned to retain her Lok Sabha seat, leaving the assembly vacant. Bhoumik’s brother Bindu Debnath will be fighting for the BJP against Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Kaushik Chanda in Dhanpur for the bypolls.
As a result of the passing of CPI (MK) MLA Samsul Haque, the seat in Tripura’s Boxanagar district became open to competition between the BJP and CPI (M). There will be a fight between the SP, Congress, and BJP for the Bageshwar seat in Uttarakhand. The passing of BJP MLA Chandan Ram Dass prompted a bye-election in Bageshwar.