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All eyes will be on Congress Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her electoral debut as well as on Prashant Kishore’s Jan Suraaj.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday for 31 assembly seats in 10 states, along with Kerala’s Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, marking Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s electoral debut. Eyes will also be on Bihar, were political strategist Prahsant Kishore’s Jan Suraaj will aim to upset both the Mahagathbandhan and the INDIA bloc.
Most of these seats became vacant after sitting MLAs won Lok Sabha elections, while bypolls are being held in some of them due to the death of representatives.
The bypolls will also be a test for the Congress and its INDIA bloc and also for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress will look forward to it and INDIA bloc gaining maximum seats to offset the losses sustained in the recently concluded polls in Haryana.
The bypolls will also be a test for Jan Suraaj, the outfit floated by Prashant Kishore. His party is contesting the Bihar bypolls and will hope to back his claim that his party will hurt the Mahagathbandhan and INDIA bloc. Kishore had said he is viewing the bypolls as semi-finals ahead of the 2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections.
In Karnataka, JD(S) leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy is contesting from Channapatna, a seat vacated by his father and Union minister H D Kumaraswamy after being elected to Lok Sabha. The BJP has fielded former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s son, Bharath Bommai, from Shiggaon. He will face Congress candidate Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan.
Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
Here’s a look at the Lok Sabha seats that are going to bypolls:
- Wayanad, Kerala: Vacated by Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Wayanad will choose between his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, LDF’s Sathyan Mokeri, NDA’s Navya Haridas and 13 others.
Here’s the list of legislative assembly constituencies going to bypolls categorised by state:
- Assam: Dholai, Sidli, Bongaigaon, Behali and Samaguri
- Bihar: Tarari, Ramgarh, Imamganj and Belaganj
- Chhattisgarh: Raipur City South
- Gujarat: Vav
- Karnataka: Shiggaon, Sandur and Channapatna
- Kerala: Chelakkara
- Madhya Pradesh: Budhni and Vijaypur
- Meghalaya: Gambegre
- Rajasthan: Jhunjhunu, Ramgarh, Dausa, Deoli-Uniara, Khinwsar, Salumber and Chorasi
- West Bengal: Sitai, Madarihat, Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur and Taldangra
