By-polls to 2 Lok Sabha seats, 14 assembly seats across various states on April 17

The 14 legislative assembly constituencies are Sahara, Sujangarh, Rajsamand, Basavakalyan, Maski, Morva Hadaf, Madhupur, Damoh, Pandharpur, Serchhip, Noksen, Pipili, Salt and Nagarjuna Sagar.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced that the by-elections for the Tirupati parliamentary constituency in Andhra Pradesh and Belgaum in Karnataka would be conducted on April 17, 2021. The by-elections for 14 assembly constituencies in various states would also be conducted on the same date.

According to the ECI, the last date for filing nominations for all the by-polls is March 30, 2021, while the counting of votes would be done on May 2, 2021.(PTI)

The 14 legislative assembly constituencies are Sahara, Sujangarh and Rajsamand in Rajasthan, Basavakalyan and Maski in Karnataka, Morva Hadaf in Gujarat, Jharkhand’s Madhupur, Damoh in Madhya Pradesh, Pandharpur in Maharashtra, Serchhip in Mizoram, Noksen in Nagaland, Pipili in Odisha, Salt in Uttarakhand and Nagarjuna Sagar in Telangana.

Of these, the Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency and the Sujangarh assembly constituency are reserved seats for scheduled castes. Also, Noksen, Serchhip, Maski and Morva Hadaf assembly constituencies are reserved for the scheduled tribes.

According to the announcement, the last date for filing nominations for all the by-polls is March 30, 2021, while the counting of votes would be done on May 2, 2021. The ECI also said that the dates have been finalised “after taking into consideration various factors like local festivals, electoral rolls, weather conditions, movement of forces, pandemic etc.,” in its statement announcing the dates.

Balli Durga Prasad of the YSR Congress party and Suresh Angadi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won from the Tirupati and Belgaum seats, respectively, in the 2019 parliamentary elections. However, in September 2020, both the MPs died of the Covid-19 disease leaving their seats vacant.

Earlier on March 12, Minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan announced that a BJP candidate backed by the Jana Sena Party would contest in the Tirupati by-poll, after meeting with Jana Sena Party leader and actor turned politician Pawan Kalyan. “@BJP4India's victory march will begin from TPTY. @BJP4Andhra & @JanaSenaParty will expose the shady designs of @YSRCParty & @JaiTDP that undermine the beliefs of devotees. These satraps self-serving & partisan approach deprived people of TPTY. Time to put an end to such trends,” Muraleedharan tweeted. However, the BJP is yet to announce its candidate for the Belgaum seat, which has been a stronghold of the party.

(With inputs from Srinivasa Rao Apparasu and Sharan Poovanna)