Bypolls to seven assembly seats in 6 states today

Voting for by-elections to seven assembly constituencies across six states will be held on Thursday, many of which will be a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.

Voting for by-elections to seven assembly constituencies across six states will be held on Thursday, many of which will be a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.

Security personnel leave for election duty for the Mokama assembly by-election, in Patna on Wednesday. (ANI)

The bypolls will be held for Andheri East seat in Maharashtra, Munugode in Telangana, Gopalganj and Mokama in Bihar, Adampur in Haryana, Gola Gokarannath in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in Odisha. Counting of votes will be done on November 6.

The Andheri East bypoll in Mumbai is seen as a mere formality following the withdrawal of the BJP’s candidate from the fray last month. Rutuja Latke, the nominee of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, is expected to register a comfortable win. She is pitted against six candidates, including four independents, while the NCP and Congress have supported her candidature.

Stakes are high in the Munugode bypoll, with all three major parties — the BJP, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samilthi (TRS) and the Congress — contesting. The election was necessitated after Congress MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy resigned from the party. He is re-contesting, but this time on a BJP ticket and his main rivals are former legislator Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy of the TRS and Palvai Sravanthi of the Congress.

In Bihar’s Gopalganj, BJP’s Kusum Devi, whose husband represented the seat until his death, is in direct fight against Mohan Gupta of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. In Mokama, the contest is being seen as proxy fight between two prominent Bhumihar strongmen, Anant Singh and Nalini Rajan Singh. Anant’s wife Neelam Devi of the RJD is constesing against Nalini’s wife Sonam Devi of the BJP. The seat fell vacant after Anant Singh was convicted in a criminal case.

In Haryana’s Adampur, the bypoll was necessitated after former chief minister Bhajan Lal’s son and sitting legislator Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned and switched sides from the Congress to the BJP. Bishnoi’s son Bhavya is contesting on a BJP ticket and is among 22 candidates, all men, in fray. Congress has fielded former Union minister Jai Prakash, a three-time MP from Hisar, while the INLD picked Congress rebel Kurda Ram Nambardar. The AAP has fielded Satender Singh, who switched over from the BJP. Bishnoi had defeated BJP’s Sonali Phogat, who was recently found murdered in Goa, in 2019.

In Gola Gokarannath constituency in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri, it’s a direct conest between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. The BSP and the Congress did not pitch a candidate in the bypoll, which was necessitated after BJP legislator Arvind Giri died on September 6. The main contest is between deceased MLA’s son Aman Giri of the BJP and former MLA Vinay Tiwari of the SP.

In Odisha’s Dhamnagar, the ruling Biju Janata Dal has fielded Abanti Das against BJP’s Suryabanshi Suraj, son of Bishnu Charan Sethi, whose demise on September 19 necessitated the by-election. The Congress has fielded advocate Baba Harekrushna Sethi while former BJD legislator Rajendra Das is also in the fray as an independent candidate.