At centers set up in the relevant states on Friday, the counting of ballots for the seven assembly seats across six states that were up for byelection on the previous Tuesday is scheduled to start at 8 a.m.
The outcomes of the byelection are considered as a test for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) grouping against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA before the key Lok Sabha elections in 2024 and the five state assembly elections slated for later this year.
The seven seats are in the states of Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar, Uttar Pradesh’s Ghosi, Kerala’s Puthuppally, West Bengal’s Dhupguri, Jharkhand’s Dumri, and Tripura’s Boxanagar and Dhanpur.
While the BJP held the seats in Bageshwar, Dhupguri, and Dhanpur, the Samajwadi Party held the seat in Ghosi, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) held the seat in Boxanagar, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) held the seat in Dumri, and the Congress held the seat in Puthuppally.
Only 49.42% of voters in the Ghosi Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh turned out to vote in the by-election on Tuesday. Dumri, in Jharkhand, had a 64.84 percent participation, compared to 55.35 percent in Bageshwar, Uttarakhand.
In contrast, Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura had 86.34 percent and 81.88 percent of registered voters, respectively, while Dhupguri in Bengal saw 74.35 percent.
After Dara Singh Chauhan, who had won the seat in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, left the Samajwadi Party and rejoined the BJP, a byelection in Ghosi became necessary. The BJP chose Chauhan to run in the byelection. On the other side, Sudhakar Singh was run by the Samajwadi Party to challenge Chauhan.
The BJP’s Pratima Bhoumik resigned from the assembly in Tripura’s Dhanpur in order to keep her position in the Lok Sabha, necessitating the bye-election. In the byelections in Dhanpur, Kaushik Chanda of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) faced off against Bindu Debnath of the BJP.
The BJP and CPI (M) competed in Tripura’s Boxanagar since the seat became vacant with the passing of CPI (MK) MLA Samsul Haque.
In the contest for the Bageshwar seat in Uttarakhand, the Samajwadi Party, Congress, and BJP were faced against one another. The death of BJP MLA Chandan Ram Dass forced a bye-election in Bageshwar.
The byelections in Kerala’s Puthupally seat were necessary due to the death of Congress stalwart Oomen Chandy. Chandy Oomen, son of Oommen Chandy, ran for office in Congress, whereas Jaick C. Thomas, a candidate for the governing CPI (M), ran in this district.
After JMM MLA Jagarnath Mahto passed away, a byelection in the Dumri district of Jharkhand became necessary. Bebi Devi, a JMM candidate who ran against Yashoda Devu of the NDA and Abdul Rizvi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), represented the INDIA bloc.
The bye-election in Dhupguri, West Bengal, was required after the passing of BJP candidate Bishnu Pada Ray. In the race, Ishwar Chandra Roy of the CPI (M) and Tapas Ray of the BJP faced off.
