All eyes are set on counting of votes in the bypolls to seven Assembly seats across six states, including Haryana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday. The seats where the votes will be counted are Andheri East (Maharashtra), Adampur (Haryana), Gopalganj and Mokama (Bihar), Munugode (Telangana), Gola Gokarannath (Uttar Pradesh) and Dhamnagar (Odisha). The polling was held on November 3.
What to expect: Top points
1) In Haryana's Adampur, a turnout of over 75 per cent was recorded during the by-election. The outcome of the bypoll will decide if former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s family will retain the bastion of five decades. Other parties in fray are the Congress, Indian National Lok Dal and Aam Aadmi Party.
2) For the bypolls in Bihar, the main contest is between the BJP and the RJD. BJP leader Kusum Devi is pitted against RJD's Mohan Gupta in Gopalganj. In Mokama, BJP nominee Sonam Devi is up against RJD's Neelam Devi, the wife of Anant Sigh. The elections are crucial as this is the first face-off between the ruling Mahagathbandhan and the opposition BJP after the new government came to power in the state in August.
3) In Mumbai's Andheri East bypoll election – the first in Maharashtra after the collapse of Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government – Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), is expected to win comfortably after the BJP withdrew its nominee from the by-election. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, both constituents of the MVA, have supported Latke's candidature.
{{/usCountry}}3) In Mumbai's Andheri East bypoll election – the first in Maharashtra after the collapse of Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government – Rutuja Latke, the candidate of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), is expected to win comfortably after the BJP withdrew its nominee from the by-election. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, both constituents of the MVA, have supported Latke's candidature.
{{/usCountry}}4) The BJP is seeking to retain the Gola Gokarannath seat in Uttar Pradesh, which fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Arvind Giri on September 6. With the BSP and the Congress keeping away from the bypolls, there seems to be a direct fight between the BJP's Aman Giri and the SP candidate - former Gola MLA Vinay Tiwari.
5) Dhamnagar bypoll result is awaited as a stiff contest is expected between ruling BJD candidate Abanti Das and BJP nominee Suryabanshi Suraj, the son of former legislator Bishnu Charan Sethi, whose death necessitated the by-election. BJD rebel and former MLA Rajendra Das is also in the fray and expected to cut some BJD votes.
6) Telangana's Munugode saw over 93 per cent of the votes polled on Thursday. The BJP and the ruling TRS had campaigned aggressively in Munugode, where the Congress MLA had resigned and is fighting on the saffron party's ticket.
(With agency inputs)