New Delhi: Moderate turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling across five assembly constituencies across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Keral,a where bypolls are underway on Thursday.
Polling commenced at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm.
While the death of sitting MLAs necessitated the bypoll in one seat of Gujarat and in West Bengal and Punjab, the resignation of two legislators led to the poll in Kerala and in one seat of Gujarat.
The Ludhiana West Assembly seat became vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January. The upcoming by-election is anticipated to be a closely contested battle among major political parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, BJP, and Shiromani Akali Dal, vying for control in this urban constituency.
There are a total of 14 candidates in the fray, and 1,75,469 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise – 85,371 of them women and 10 belonging to the third gender. A total of 194 polling stations are there for the bypoll, with 100 per cent live webcasting of polling stations, officials said.
The ruling AAP has fielded Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora, 61, who is a Ludhiana-based industrialist. He is also known for his social welfare work.
The Congress has fielded Bharat Bhushan Ashu, a former minister and Punjab Congress working president, in the by-election. Ashu, 51, has previously represented the constituency as an MLA in 2012 and 2017, but lost to Gurpreet Bassi Gogi by 7,512 votes in the 2022 Assembly polls.
The BJP has nominated senior leader Jiwan Gupta, a member of the party’s core committee in Punjab and former state general secretary. Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has chosen Parupkar Singh Ghuman, a lawyer and former president of the Ludhiana Bar Association, as its candidate for the by-election.
Nilambur assembly bypoll
A by-election is being held in Kerala’s Nilambur Assembly constituency after Anvar resigned as MLA following a rift with the CPI(M)-led LDF. Key contenders include LDF’s M Swaraj, UDF’s Aryadan Shoukath, independent candidate P V Anvar (Trinamool Congress state convener), and NDA’s Mohan George.
Voters began lining up early morning at 263 polling booths in the constituency, where over 2.32 lakh voters will choose their representative from a field of 10 candidates.
The final voter list includes 1,13,613 men, 1,18,760 women, and 8 transgender persons, with 7,787 first-time voters, 373 overseas voters, and 324 service voters.
Visavadar and Kadi bypolls
Voting began at 7 am in Gujarat’s Visavadar and Kadi assembly seats, with polls continuing till 8 pm across 294 polling stations in each constituency. The contest is a three-way battle between the BJP, Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in both seats.
Gujarat’s Visavadar Assembly seat has been vacant since December 2023 after AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and subsequently joined the ruling BJP.
For the bypoll, the BJP has nominated Kirit Patel, while Congress has fielded Nitin Ranpariya. AAP’s former Gujarat president, Gopal Italia, is also in the fray, setting up a three-way contest.
The BJP hasn’t won the Visavadar seat since 2007, but party leaders are hopeful of breaking the drought. In 2022, AAP’s Bhupendra Bhayani defeated BJP’s Harshad Ribadiya, a former Congress member, by 7,063 votes.
The Kadi seat in Mehsana district, reserved for SC candidates, fell vacant after BJP MLA Karsan Solanki’s death on February 4. The BJP’s Rajendra Chavda, Congress’s former MLA Ramesh Chavda (who won in 2012 but lost in 2017), and AAP’s Jagdish Chavda are contesting, making it a three-way battle.
Kaliganj assembly bypolls
The by-election is turning into a three-cornered fight between the TMC, BJP, and the Congress-Left alliance, with identity politics, post-riot anxieties, and the nationalist sentiment following Operation Sindoor likely to shape the campaign narrative.
The by-election to the Kaliganj assembly seat in West Bengal’s Nadia district was necessitated by the sudden demise of Trinamool Congress MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed in February. His daughter Alifa is the Trinamool Congress nominee. The BJP has fielded Ashis Ghosh as its candidate, while Congress nominee Kabil Uddin Shaikh has got the support of the CPI(M).
Fourteen companies of central forces have been deployed for the bypoll, which is scheduled to conclude at 5 pm.
