Campaigning came to an end on Sunday for the bypolls to be held on September 5 in seven Assembly constituencies spread over six States. Bypolls would be held in Assembly constituencies of Dhupguri in West Bengal, Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Puthupally in Kerala, Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Dumri in Jharkhand.
Counting of votes will take place on September 8.
The bypoll in north Bengal’s Dhupguri seat was necessitated following the demise of BJP MLA Bishnupada Roy on July 25. The Trinamool Congress, the BJP and the Left-Congress combine are locked in a three-cornered contest here.
The BJP has fielded Tapasi Roy, wife of a CRPF jawan who was killed in the Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, while the TMC and the CPI(M) have fielded Nirmal Chandra Roy and Ishwar Chandra Roy respectively.
In Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar Assembly constituency, the bypolls will take place after the seat fell vacant following the death of BJP MLA Chandan Ram Das. The ruling BJP has fielded his wife Parvati Das from the seat.
The Congress has fielded Basant Kumar, who quit the Aam Aadmi Party just a few days before being declared the candidate.
Bhagvati Prasad of the Samajwadi Party, Arjun Dev from Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and Bhagwat Kohli of Uttarakhand Parivartan Party are the other candidates.
Kerala bypoll
Campaigning also came to an end for the by-election to the Puthuppally Assembly constituency in Kerala, which was held by the late veteran leader Oommen Chandy for 53 years.
Chandy passed away on July 18. His son Chandy Oomen (UDF) is pitted against the CPI(M)’s Jaick C. Thomas. The BJP has fielded senior leader Lijin Lal.
In Tripura, bypolls would be held in Dhanpur and Boxanagar Assembly seats.
Tafajjal Hussain of the BJP, who unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election in February, will take on the CPI(M)’s Mizan Hussain in minority-dominated Boxanagar constituency which is a Left stronghold. Mizan is the son of the late Samsol Haque of the CPI(M), who passed away in July causing a vacancy.
In Dhanpur, bypoll was necessitated after Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik resigned from the Assembly. There would be a direct fight between the BJP’s Bindu Debnath and the CPI(M)’s Kaushik Debnath as there are only two other independent candidates who are unlikely to have much impact.
The campaigning for the Ghosi Assembly bypoll, first electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh since the formation of the newly formed Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ended amid allegations and counter-allegations, with the BJP writing to the State Election Commission in Lucknow alleging that the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Sudhakar Singh was distributing money in Dalit and Muslim areas of the Assembly segment, while the SP claimed the BJP government is trying to influence the poll by deleting names of Muslim voters. The bypoll is going to be a direct fight between the BJP candidate Dara Singh Chauhan and the SP nominee Mr. Sudhakar Singh. Mr. Chauhan, an Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader resigned as the SP MLA from the seat on July 15 necessitating the by-election.
In Jharkhand’s Dumri Assembly seat, INDIA bloc candidate Bebi Devi is locked in a direct contest with the NDA candidate Yashoda Devi.
Elections are taking place due to the death of the sitting MLA of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Jagarnath Mahto. The JMM candidate is his wife.
