The counting of votes for bypolls in 13 Assembly seats across seven states is currently underway. This electoral exercise is the first significant political event since the Lok Sabha elections, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fell short of an outright majority but the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) managed to cross the halfway mark.
Assembly Byelections Overview
Polling for these crucial byelections took place on July 10, covering four seats in West Bengal, three in Himachal Pradesh, two in Uttarakhand, and one each in Bihar, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
West Bengal
In West Bengal, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) is leading in all four contested seats. The seats include Maniktala, which TMC won in the 2021 Assembly elections, and Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, and Bagda, which were initially won by BJP before the respective MLAs switched allegiance to TMC.
Himachal Pradesh
In Himachal Pradesh, the byelections will determine the future of several key political figures and newcomers. Kamlesh Thakur, wife of Chief Minister and Congress leader Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, is ahead of her BJP rival Hoshyar Singh in the Dehra constituency. The Congress is also leading in two other seats.
Uttarakhand
In Uttarakhand, the Manglaur constituency is witnessing a three-cornered contest due to the passing of BSP MLA Sarwat Karim Ansari last year. The BJP is trailing in this Muslim- and Dalit-dominated seat, which has historically been held by either the Congress or the BSP. The ruling party is also trailing in the Badrinath seat.
Punjab
In Punjab, the Jalandhar West bypoll is seen as a significant test for Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Bhagwant Mann. AAP is currently leading in this segment.
Bihar
The bypoll in Bihar’s Rupauli Assembly seat was triggered by the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti. Bharti, who has won the seat multiple times for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) or JD(U), recently left the party to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ticket. JD(U) is currently leading in this bypoll.
Tamil Nadu
In Tamil Nadu’s Vikravandi constituency, the bypoll was necessitated by the death of DMK legislator N Pughazhendhi. The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate Anniyur Siva is leading over rivals from the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK).
Madhya Pradesh
The Amarwara Assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district saw a bypoll after three-time Congress MLA Kamlesh Shah switched to the BJP in March. Shah is currently leading against Congress’s Dheeran Shah Invati and Gondwana Gantantra Party’s Devraman Bhalavi.
Political Implications
The Assembly seats that went to polls 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.
Four of the seven states where these bypolls are taking place are governed by parties that are part of the INDIA bloc, while the rest have BJP or NDA governments. These byelections are the first electoral tests since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP secured 240 seats—32 short of the majority. The NDA, however, achieved a total of 293 seats, surpassing the halfway mark of 272. The Congress-led INDIA bloc garnered 232 seats.
As the counting progresses, the results of these bypolls will provide significant insights into the political landscape and voter sentiments across these regions.
