New Delhi, By-elections will be held in 13 assembly constituencies in seven states on Wednesday. The electoral exercise, the first since the Lok Sabha elections, will decide the fate of many veterans and some debutants, including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur.
The assembly seats up for poll 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).
By-elections will be held to fill vacancies created due to deaths or resignations of incumbent members. In West Bengal, the stakes are high for both the ruling TMC, which is seeking to capitalize on its improved performance in the Lok Sabha polls, and for the BJP, which seeks to take advantage of the significant advantages it gained in the four constituencies in the parliamentary elections. center.
The TMC won the Maniktala seat in the 2021 West Bengal elections, while the BJP won Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagda. Later, BJP MLAs switched to the TMC.
The Maniktala bypoll was necessitated due to the death of TMC MLA Sadhan Pandey in February 2022. The TMC has fielded Pandey's wife Supti for her seat. The ruling party has had Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin.
In Badgah, a Matua majority constituency, the TMC has fielded Madhuparna Thakur, a Matua Thakurbari member and daughter of party Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur.
Kalyani, Adhikari and Biswajit Das had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls on TMC tickets after quitting the BJP. The BJP has fielded Football Federation of India president Kalyan Chaubey from Maniktala, Manoj Kumar Biswas from Ranaghat Dakshin, Binay Kumar Biswas of Bagdah and Manas Kumar Ghosh of Raiganj.
Buoyed by its performance in the Lok Sabha polls, the TMC hopes to win all four assembly seats.
"We are confident of winning all four assembly seats. The people of Bengal have rejected the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections," said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh. The TMC won 29 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal Western, down from 22 in the 2019 parliamentary elections. On the other hand, the BJP's tally dropped to 12 from 18 in 2019.
In Himachal Pradesh, by-elections will be held for three assembly constituencies: Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh.
The seats fell vacant after three independent legislators Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh), who had voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections held on February 27, resigned from the House on March 22.The BJP has fielded the three former independent MLAs from their respective seats after they joined the party. In the by-elections of the three segments, a total of 13 candidates with 2,59,340 voters are contesting.
The Congress pick in Dehra is Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. She will take on BJP's Hoshiyar Singh, one of the nine MLAs who voted against the Congress candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls.
"Vote for the CM and not the MLA. Now, Dehra too will become the CM's constituency," Kamlesh Thakur told people while campaigning, hinting that voting for her meant voting for the CM and hence "development." "I will not need to go to the Secretariat to do its job, I will do it as the prime minister at home," he said.
In Hamirpur, Sukhu's home district, former independent MP Ashish Sharma is pitted against MP Puspender Verma.
Former independent legislator K L Thakur takes on Congress's old rival Hardeep Singh Bawa in Nalagarh. The entry of BJP dissident Harpreet Saini, who is contesting as an independent, has made the contest triangular. The BJP gained advantage in all three Assembly constituencies during the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Manglaur constituency in neighboring Uttarakhand will also witness a three-way fight. The vote was necessitated by the death of BSP MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari in October last year.
The BJP has never won the Muslim- and Dalit-dominated Manglaur seat, which has been held by either the Congress or the BSP in the past. This time, the BSP has fielded Ansari's son Ubedur Rehman against the Congress candidate. , Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin. Gujjar leader and BJP candidate Kartar Singh Bhadana is also in the fray.
Polling will also be held for Badrinath assembly. The seat fell vacant after Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari resigned and switched to the BJP in March this year.
Badrinath will witness a direct fight between BJP's Rajendra Bhandari and Congress newcomer Lakhpat Singh Butola.Traditionally, the ruling party in the state has an edge over its rivals in by-elections. Of the 15 by-elections held in Uttarakhand since its inception, 14 were won by the ruling party.
In Punjab, the bypoll for the Jalandhar West assembly segment is seen as a litmus test for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who has tried his best to register a victory after the party's defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. .
The seat, which fell vacant after Sheetal Angural resigned as an AAP legislator, is witnessing a fight between multiple camps.Fifteen candidates are in the fray for the by-elections, while there are a total of 1.72 lakh voters eligible to cast their vote.
The ruling AAP has fielded Mohinder Bhagat, son of former minister and former BJP MLA Bhagat Chunni Lal. Bhagat had joined the AAP after quitting the BJP last year.
The Congress has gone for Surinder Kaur, former deputy mayor and five-time municipal councilor of Jalandhar. He is a prominent Dalit leader from the Ravidassia community. The BJP has counted on Angural, who switched sides in March after leaving the AAP. He had won this seat in the 2022 Punjab assembly elections on an AAP ticket.
Winning the bypoll is important for Mann as his party suffered a defeat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, winning only three of the 13 seats.
Mann led the AAP campaign for bypoll and sought out Bhagat by holding public meetings and roadshows. He rented a house in Jalandhar and moved there with his family and had said that he would keep the house even after the vote. Prestige is also at stake for the BJP, which also wants to emerge victorious in the Jalandhar West seat after draw a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The counting of votes for the by-elections will take place on July 13.
The assembly seats up for poll 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).
By-elections will be held to fill vacancies created due to deaths or resignations of incumbent members. In West Bengal, the stakes are high for both the ruling TMC, which is seeking to capitalize on its improved performance in the Lok Sabha polls, and for the BJP, which seeks to take advantage of the significant advantages it gained in the four constituencies in the parliamentary elections. center.
The TMC won the Maniktala seat in the 2021 West Bengal elections, while the BJP won Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagda. Later, BJP MLAs switched to the TMC.
The Maniktala bypoll was necessitated due to the death of TMC MLA Sadhan Pandey in February 2022. The TMC has fielded Pandey's wife Supti for her seat. The ruling party has had Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin.
In Badgah, a Matua majority constituency, the TMC has fielded Madhuparna Thakur, a Matua Thakurbari member and daughter of party Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur.
Kalyani, Adhikari and Biswajit Das had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls on TMC tickets after quitting the BJP. The BJP has fielded Football Federation of India president Kalyan Chaubey from Maniktala, Manoj Kumar Biswas from Ranaghat Dakshin, Binay Kumar Biswas of Bagdah and Manas Kumar Ghosh of Raiganj.
Buoyed by its performance in the Lok Sabha polls, the TMC hopes to win all four assembly seats.
"We are confident of winning all four assembly seats. The people of Bengal have rejected the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections," said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh. The TMC won 29 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal Western, down from 22 in the 2019 parliamentary elections. On the other hand, the BJP's tally dropped to 12 from 18 in 2019.
In Himachal Pradesh, by-elections will be held for three assembly constituencies: Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh.
The seats fell vacant after three independent legislators Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh), who had voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections held on February 27, resigned from the House on March 22.The BJP has fielded the three former independent MLAs from their respective seats after they joined the party. In the by-elections of the three segments, a total of 13 candidates with 2,59,340 voters are contesting.
The Congress pick in Dehra is Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. She will take on BJP's Hoshiyar Singh, one of the nine MLAs who voted against the Congress candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls.
"Vote for the CM and not the MLA. Now, Dehra too will become the CM's constituency," Kamlesh Thakur told people while campaigning, hinting that voting for her meant voting for the CM and hence "development." "I will not need to go to the Secretariat to do its job, I will do it as the prime minister at home," he said.
In Hamirpur, Sukhu's home district, former independent MP Ashish Sharma is pitted against MP Puspender Verma.
Former independent legislator K L Thakur takes on Congress's old rival Hardeep Singh Bawa in Nalagarh. The entry of BJP dissident Harpreet Saini, who is contesting as an independent, has made the contest triangular. The BJP gained advantage in all three Assembly constituencies during the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Manglaur constituency in neighboring Uttarakhand will also witness a three-way fight. The vote was necessitated by the death of BSP MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari in October last year.
The BJP has never won the Muslim- and Dalit-dominated Manglaur seat, which has been held by either the Congress or the BSP in the past. This time, the BSP has fielded Ansari's son Ubedur Rehman against the Congress candidate. , Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin. Gujjar leader and BJP candidate Kartar Singh Bhadana is also in the fray.
Polling will also be held for Badrinath assembly. The seat fell vacant after Congress MLA Rajendra Bhandari resigned and switched to the BJP in March this year.
Badrinath will witness a direct fight between BJP's Rajendra Bhandari and Congress newcomer Lakhpat Singh Butola.Traditionally, the ruling party in the state has an edge over its rivals in by-elections. Of the 15 by-elections held in Uttarakhand since its inception, 14 were won by the ruling party.
In Punjab, the bypoll for the Jalandhar West assembly segment is seen as a litmus test for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who has tried his best to register a victory after the party's defeat in the Lok Sabha polls. .
The seat, which fell vacant after Sheetal Angural resigned as an AAP legislator, is witnessing a fight between multiple camps.Fifteen candidates are in the fray for the by-elections, while there are a total of 1.72 lakh voters eligible to cast their vote.
The ruling AAP has fielded Mohinder Bhagat, son of former minister and former BJP MLA Bhagat Chunni Lal. Bhagat had joined the AAP after quitting the BJP last year.
The Congress has gone for Surinder Kaur, former deputy mayor and five-time municipal councilor of Jalandhar. He is a prominent Dalit leader from the Ravidassia community. The BJP has counted on Angural, who switched sides in March after leaving the AAP. He had won this seat in the 2022 Punjab assembly elections on an AAP ticket.
Winning the bypoll is important for Mann as his party suffered a defeat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, winning only three of the 13 seats.
Mann led the AAP campaign for bypoll and sought out Bhagat by holding public meetings and roadshows. He rented a house in Jalandhar and moved there with his family and had said that he would keep the house even after the vote. Prestige is also at stake for the BJP, which also wants to emerge victorious in the Jalandhar West seat after draw a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The counting of votes for the by-elections will take place on July 13.
