By-election to Bawana assembly seat on August 23, result on August 28

The assembly seat, one of the 12 reserved constituencies in the 70-member Delhi assembly, fell vacant after AAP legislator Ved Parkash quit his membership in March to join the BJP ahead of the municipal elections.

Delhi will witness another political battle as the Election Commission of India has announced the by-election for the Bawana assembly seat on August 23. Counting of votes will take place on August 28.

New Delhi,India- July 17,2017: Delhi C.M Arvind Kejriwal casts his vote during the presidential election at Delhi Vidhan Sabha in New Delhi on Monday, JUly 17,2017. (HT PHOTO)

The assembly seat, one of the 12 reserved constituencies in the 70-member Delhi assembly, fell vacant after AAP legislator Ved Parkash quit his membership in March to join the BJP ahead of the municipal elections.

The AAP now has 65 legislators in the house, while the rest four are from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The election holds significance as it comes close on the heels of the municipal elections in which the BJP emerged victorious and the AAP a distant second. It was the second electoral debacle for AAP within a month as it also badly lost the Rajouri Garden assembly by-election just ahead of the civic polls.

All three major political parties--AAP, BJP and Congress--have already named their candidates.

While the BJP has named turncoat Parkash, the AAP has named Ramchandra, who was earlier associated with India Against Corruption. In 2008, Ramchandra had contested the assembly election on a BSP ticket.

The Congress has named former three-time MLA Surendra Kumar as its candidate.

The notification for the byelections would be issued on July 29, beginning the nomination process.

While August 5 is the last date for filing nominations, August 9 is the last date of withdrawal, an EC statement said.