|
Voting began early Tuesday for by-elections to five Assembly seats across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, along with a Lok Sabha seat in Assam.
In West Bengal, bypolls are being held in the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly constituencies. The Nandigram seat fell vacant after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari won from two constituencies in the State Assembly elections earlier this year and chose to retain the other seat. The Rejinagar seat fell vacant following the resignation of Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founder Humayun Kabir, who had also secured victory from Nowda. In Tamil Nadu, bypolls are being held in the Madurantakam (SC) constituency in Chengalpattu district and Dharapuram (SC) in Tiruppur district. The two seats fell vacant following the resignations of Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama. The contest has become a five-cornered fight, exposing cracks in the ruling formation itself. Though the CPI and CPM are supporting the TVK government, they are contesting separately against TVK in this bypoll - CPM's Suganthi in Madurantakam and CPI's Lakshmanan in Dharapuram. In Madurantakam, TVK's Maragatham Kumaravel faces DMK's Paranthaman, AIADMK's Kanitha Sampath, CPM's Suganthi and NTK's Janakiraman among 28 candidates in the fray. In Dharapuram, TVK's P Sathyabama is pitted against DMK's Suganya, AIADMK's Banumathi, CPI's Lakshmanan and NTK's Karthika. Polling for the Assam Lok Sabha bypoll in Nagaon is witnessing a three-way contest among the BJP, Congress and AIUDF. The Nagaon Lok Sabha seat, which was won by the Congress in the 2019 and 2024 general elections, fell vacant after Pradyut Bordoloi left the party, joined the BJP and later won the Dispur Assembly constituency in the 2026 Assam Assembly elections. The BJP has fielded former Nagaon Deputy Commissioner Debashish Sharma, while the Congress has nominated former Batadroba MLA Sibamoni Bora. The contest has also gained significance with AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal entering the fray. In the Union Territory of Puducherry, polling is also taking place in the Thattanchavady Assembly constituency. The counting of votes will take place on October 9. The Election Commission stated that the entire election process is scheduled to be completed before October 11. (ANI)
|
