CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Voting has begun in 13 Assembly constituencies in seven states in the first by-polls held since the Lok Sabha elections. The elections are being held in West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
The assembly seats going to polls are Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda and Maniktala (West Bengal); Badrinath and Manglaur (Uttarakhand); Jalandhar West (Punjab); Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh); Rupauli (Bihar); Vikravandi (Tamil Nadu) and Amarwara (Madhya Pradesh).
The by-polls were necessitated due to deaths or resignations of incumbent members.
Prominent names seeking mandate include Congress candidate and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur (Dehra), BJP candidate and All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey from (Maniktala) and Supti Pandey (Maniktala).
Others are:
West Bengal
The TMC is facing the bypolls to the four seats, buoyed by the success in the Lok Sabha elections. One of the fierce contests is in Maniktala where TMC’s Supti Pandey will face All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey from Maniktala. The seat fell vacant after death of sitting TMC MLA and Supti’s husband Sadhan Pandey in February 2022.
Other TMC candidates in the fray include Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin. In Badgah, a Matua-majority constituency, the TMC has fielded Madhuparna Thakur, a member of the Matua Thakurbari and daughter of party Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur.