The Election Commission on Sunday announced bypolls to five Assembly seats in four states on June 19.
While two bypolls will be held in Gujarat, one each will take place in Kerala, Bengal and Punjab.
Filing of nominations will close on June 2 and the votes will be counted on June 23.
The Kaliganj Assembly seat in Bengal’s Nadia district fell vacant in February after the death of Trinamool Congress MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed.
The bypoll comes at a time the Mamata Banerjee government is facing flak
for irregularities in school recruitment.
The bypoll to the Visavadar Assembly seat in BJP-ruled Gujarat is expected to be a three-way fight between the BJP, AAP and the Congress. Visavadar’s previous MLA Bhupendra Bhayani defected from the AAP to the BJP in 2023. The bypoll was delayed due to a pending election petition by the BJP candidate whom Bhayani had defeated in 2022.
The bypoll to the Kadi seat in Gujarat was necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Karsanbhai Punjabhai Solanki.
The Ludhiana West seat in Punjab is important to the AAP, which has been
focusing on it since the party’s rout in the Delhi polls in February.
The Nilambur seat in Kerala fell vacant after the resignation of Independent MLA P. V. Anvar in January.
Anvar parted ways with CPM-led Left Democratic Front after a fallout with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan over allegations of wrongdoing against the latter’s aide P. Sasi and senior cops.
Anvar joined the Trinamool as its Kerala coordinator after Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam reportedly rebuffed his attempts to join the party. He has extended support to the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
