The counting of votes for 13 legislative assembly seats across seven states began on Saturday morning. Polling took place on July 10 for seats in Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. The Election Commission held by-elections in one seat each in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh, two seats in Uttarakhand, three seats in Himachal Pradesh, and four seats in West Bengal.
The constituencies include Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, and Maniktala in West Bengal; Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh; Badrinath and Manglaur in Uttarakhand; Jalandhar West in Punjab; Rupauli in Bihar; Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu; and Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh.
The BJP and the Congress are locked in a straight fight in most seats, while TMC and DMK are also contesting. In Himachal Pradesh, voter turnout ranged from 63% to 75%. The bypolls in Himachal Pradesh involved 15 candidates, including Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. The Dehra seat saw a bypoll due to the resignation of MLA Hoshyar Singh, Hamirpur due to MLA Ashish Sharma’s resignation, and Nalagarh due to MLA KL Thakur’s resignation. The counting will also determine the fate of Kamlesh Thakur, fielded by the Congress in Dehra. The party repeated Pushpinder Verma in Hamirpur and fielded Hardeep Singh Baba in Nalagarh.
West Bengal witnessed a voter turnout of 62.71% in the bypolls for four assembly constituencies. The bypolls were necessitated as Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj, Biswajit Das from Bagdah, and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin vacated their seats to contest the Lok Sabha elections. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool aims to sustain its dominance, having secured 29 out of 42 parliamentary seats in Bengal, while the BJP seeks a rebound after its Lok Sabha seat count dropped from 18 in 2019 to 12.
In Uttarakhand, violence erupted in the Manglaur assembly constituency, injuring four people, but a high polling percentage of 67.28% was recorded. The Badrinath bypoll was contested between BJP’s Rajendra Bhandari and Congress newcomer Lakhpat Singh Butola.
Bihar saw over 57% of voters exercise their franchise in the Rupauli assembly seat bypoll, necessitated by the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti, who quit JD(U) to contest the Lok Sabha elections on an RJD ticket.
In Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara, the Amarwara (ST) assembly seat bypoll saw a voter turnout of 78.71%. The seat fell vacant after three-time Congress MLA Kamlesh Shah switched to the BJP in March. The outcome is closely watched by both the BJP and Congress, as Chhindwara was considered a stronghold of senior Congress leader Kamal Nath until recently.
The Vikravandi assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu recorded a voter turnout of 82.48%, necessitated by the death of DMK legislator N Pughazhendhi. The ruling DMK’s candidate Anniyur Siva (alias Sivashanmugam A) is pitted against PMK’s C Anbumani and Naam Tamilar Katchi’s K Abinaya.
In Punjab, a 55% voter turnout was recorded in the Jalandhar West assembly bypoll. The constituency saw a multi-cornered contest among the ruling AAP, BJP, and Congress. The seat fell vacant after AAP legislator Sheetal Angural joined the BJP.
