Bypolls

AAP names former Congress leader Rinku as candidate for Jalandhar LS bypoll

Former Congress MLA Sushil Rinku on Thursday was named as the AAP's candidate for the upcoming Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, a day after he joined the ruling party in Punjab. Polling for the Jalandhar parliamentary seat will take place on May 10 and counting of votes will be done on May 13. Rinku had joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the presence of party chief Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday. In a tweet, Mann on Thursday shared information about Rinku being named as the AAP candidate for the bypoll. Rinku was earlier the Congress MLA from Jalandhar West. In the 2022 assembly polls, he was defeated by AAP's Sheetal Angural. The Congress on Wednesday had expelled Rinku from the party for allegedly indulging in anti-party activities. The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January. The 76-year-old died after suffering a cardiac arrest during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jalandhar's Phillaur.

Bypolls to 1 Lok Sabha, 4 assembly seats on May 10: Election commission

Bypolls to one Lok Sabha and four assembly seats across four states will be held on May 10 along with the Karnataka assembly polls, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday. The counting of votes will take place on May 13, it said. The Jalandhar parliamentary constituency fell vacant following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary, 76, in January this year following a heart attack while taking part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The poll panel also announced a bypoll to the Jharsuguda assembly seat in Odisha which was necessitated by the death of Naba Kisore Das, who was shot dead by a police officer in January this year. Bypoll to the Suar assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh was necessitated following the disqualification upon conviction of Samajwadi Party MLA Abdullah Azam Khan. He was convicted in a 2008 case relating to a 'dharna' on a highway and sentenced to two years in jail. He is son of SP veteran Mohd Azam Khan, who also stands disqualified in another case. Chhan

Maha bypolls: BJP loses Kasba Assembly seat after 28 yrs, retains Chinchwad

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday failed to retain the Kasba Peth Assembly seat in Pune city, its stronghold for nearly three decades, but managed to hold on to the Chinchwad Assembly seat in bypolls. Congress's Ravindra Dhangekar defeated BJP's Hemant Rasane in Kasba Peth by 10,950 votes, while Ashwini Jagtap of the BJP defeated Vitthal alias Nana Kate of the Nationalist Congress Party by 36,168 votes in Chinchwad, an industrial township near Pune. The byelections were the first direct contest between the ruling combine of BJP-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress after Shinde became chief minister last June. The elections were necessitated by the deaths of sitting BJP MLAs Mukta Tilak (Kasba Peth) and Laxman Jagtap (Chinchwad). The BJP had represented Kasba Peth in the state Assembly for the last 28 years. Girish Bapat, the current BJP Lok Sabha MP from Pune, had won from the seat five ...

Cong wins 3, BJP and ally 2; TMC suffers shock defeat in West Bengal

The assembly by-election results on Thursday brought some solace for the Congress as it wrested one seat each from the BJP and the TMC in Maharashtra and West Bengal respectively and retained a seat in Tamil Nadu with DMK's support, while the BJP and its ally AJSU bagged one seat each in the western state and Jharkhand. The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal suffered a shock defeat in Sagardighi which was won by Congress' Bayron Biswas by 22,986 votes. It is the only seat held by the Congress in the state assembly. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged the Congress and the CPI(M) had entered into an understanding with the BJP to defeat the Trinamool Congress with their "immoral" alliance. Banerjee also said that her party will go it alone in the 2024 elections, "with the support of common people" and the Congress should refrain from calling itself anti-BJP. "For the Sagardighi loss, I do not blame anyone... But, there is an immoral alliance, which we strongly .

AJSU leads by 21,960 votes after 9th round of counting in Ramgarh bypoll

AJSU party candidate Sunita Choudhary was leading by 21,960 votes over her nearest rival Bajrang Mahto of the Congress after the ninth round of counting in the Ramgarh by-election, an official said on Thursday. The AJSU party, which has tied up with the BJP for the bypoll, got 1,04,442 votes while the Congress, an ally of the ruling JMM-led coalition, got 82,482 after the completion of the ninth round of counting, the official said. Counting of votes for the Ramgarh assembly by-election began at 8 am at Ramgarh college, some 40 km from the state capital Ranchi, said Ramgarh SDO cum Returning officer Md Javed Hussain. A voter turnout of over 67.96 per cent was recorded in the Ramgarh assembly constituency bypoll on February 27. Though 18 candidates, including 14 Independents, were in the fray, the contest is mainly between the Congress, an ally of the ruling JMM-led coalition, and the AJSU party, which has tied up with the BJP for the bypoll. The by-election was necessitated after

Left Democratic Front wins 14 seats in local body bypolls in Kerala

The United Democratic Front (UDF) won 12 seats, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 2 seats and independent candidates won 4 seats in the bypolls held on Tuesday

Maharashtra by-election: Case against BJP's Rasane for violating poll code

Police have registered a case against Hemant Rasane, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for Kasba Assembly seat bypoll in Maharashtra's Pune district, for allegedly violating the model code of conduct, an official said on Monday. Bypolls to Kasba and Chinchwad Assembly seats, necessitated due to the death of their respective BJP MLAs Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap, were held on Sunday. Rasane, who cast his vote at Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya in Kasba area of Pune city, was seen sporting a neckwear bearing his party symbol at the polling station. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Rupali Thombare filed a police complaint against Rasane for alleged breach of the model code of conduct and demanded action against him. An official from Vishrambaug police station said the assistant returning officer for the bypoll also filed a complaint against Rasane, based on which a case was registered against him. A probe is on into the case, the official said. In the Kasba seat, Rasane ...

Tamil Nadu: Voting for Erode Assembly seat bypolls underway smoothly

The election began at 7 am. The officials are also monitoring the situation across all polling booths

Maharashtra Assembly bypolls: 41.1% voter turnout in Chinchwad till 5pm

A voter turnout of 41.1 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Sunday in Chinchwad Assembly seat and 45.25 per cent in Kasba Assembly seat in Maharashtra, with several of those standing in the voting queue speaking about better roads, proper waste management and adequate water supply being the issues they want addressed. According to political analysts, the results of these bypolls, which saw a high-voltage campaign by senior leaders from various parties, will set the tone for the forthcoming elections in the state, including of the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and other civic bodies. The bypolls in Kasba and Chinchwad were necessitated due to the death of their respective Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap. In the Kasba Assembly seat in Pune city, there is a contest between BJP's Hemant Rasane and Congress's Ravindra Dhangekar, who is supported by the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena

Erode East byelection will check weightage of Dravidian model: M K Stalin

"You all shouldn't forget that this is not only a bypoll, this is an election to check the weightage of the Dravidian Model government," said the CM

Erode bypoll: Stalin hits campaign trail for DMK on last day of campaigning

Chief Minister M.K Stalin hit the campaign trail for the Erode East bypoll's DMK front candidate and senior Congress leader, E.V.K.S. Elangovan at Sampath Nagar, the last day of the electioneering

Arunachal bypoll: Nomination paper of lone candidate found to be valid

The nomination paper of BJP's Tsering Lhamu, the lone candidate contesting the February 27 by-election in Lumla assembly seat in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang district, was found to be valid, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Liken Koyu said on Wednesday. The returning officer of Lumla constituency will declare the lone candidate to have been duly elected immediately after the last hour for withdrawal of candidature at 3 pm on February 10, Koyu said. Though the People's Party of Arunachal (PPA) had nominated a former village headman as its candidate, he withdrew from the race and did not file his nomination. Lhamu is the wife of Jambey Tashi, the MLA of Lumla whose death necessitated the by-election. Tashi represented the constituency for three consecutive terms since 2009. Assembly elections in the northeastern state are due next year simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls.

BJP announces candidates for West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh bypoll

The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released a list of candidates for the upcoming bye-elections to be held in West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh

Bypolls results: Counting of votes for 6 constituencies in 5 states today

The polling was held on December 5 in six assembly seats in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh

People being prevented from casting vote in Mainpuri, Rampur: Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Monday alleged that the police and administration are preventing people from casting votes in Mainpuri parliamentary and Rampur Assembly constituency in the by-polls in Uttar Pradesh. Voting began on Monday for the Rampur and Khatauli Assembly constituencies and the Mainpuri parliamentary seat in UP. The by-election to the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat is taking place due to the death of Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. "What briefing has been done to the police force? They have been asked to prevent people from voting in Mainpuri. In Rampur also the administration prevented people from casting votes. All the tactics are being adopted so that people did not come out," Yadav told reporters in Mainpuri. SP President Akhilesh further added that the Election Commission is ignoring such complaints and has turned "a blind eye." "They (EC) are doing whatever directives they get from the government," Yadav alleged. "BJP has been give

Bypolls: Voting underway in Mainpuri, 6 assembly constituencies in 5 states

Voting began on Monday in the by-election to six assembly constituencies in five states and the Mainpuri parliamentary seat in Uttar Pradesh. Rampur Sadar and Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, Padampur in Odisha, Sardarshahar in Rajasthan, Kurhani in Bihar and Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh are the assembly seats where the bypolls are being held. Election authorities have made elaborate arrangements for the by-elections. The polling was being held amid tight security arrangements. In Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, the polling began at 7 am, while in Rajasthan it started at 8 am. In Uttar Pradesh, a direct contest between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance is on the cards in bypolls to the Rampur Sadar and Khatauli assembly seats and the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency. The BSP and the Congress are not contesting the bypolls. The by-election to the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat is taking place due to the death of Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh

Chhattisgarh by-polls 2022: Voting begins in Bhanupratappur on Monday

Amid heavy security, polling for the byelections in Maoist-hit Bhanupratappur Assembly constituency of Chhattisgarh will be held on Monday. Seven candidates are in the fray for the bypolls in the constituency, which is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes. The byelection has been necessitated after the death of Congress MLA and Deputy Assembly Speaker Manoj Singh Mandavi due to a heart attack on October 16. All preparations have been completed for conducting a free and fair byelection in Bhanupratappur on December 5. The polling time is from 7 am to 3 pm," an official said here on Sunday. According to poll officials, 1,95,678 voters, of which 95,186 men, 1,00,491 women and one third gender person will exercise their franchise. A total of 356 polling stations have been set up, of which 239 are in rural areas and the rest in the urban part of the constituency, they said. The counting of votes will take place on December 8. Polling parties were dispatched to their respective booths on

Union ministers, BJD, Cong leaders lock horns in bypoll-bound Odisha seat

As the battle intensifies for the December 5 bypoll to Padampur, three major political parties of Odisha -- the ruling BJD, the BJP and the Congress -- go all out to woo the people of the assembly constituency, with their top leaders hitting the campaign trail. Two union ministers -- Narendra Singh Tomar and Ashwini Vaishnaw hit out at the BJD government on Sunday over farmers' issues and other development work, as they stepped up campaign for BJP candidate Pradip Purohit, the party's Odisha unit Krushak Morcha chief. Similarly, at least 10 ministers and nearly three dozen MLAs of the BJD descended on the battleground to canvass for nominee Barsha Singh Bariha. Odisha Congress chief Sarat Pattnayak and leaders Jaydev Jena and Niranjan Patnaik were seen electioneering for party candidate Satya Bhusan Sahu in the segment. Addressing two election meetings, jointly with railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in the bypoll-bound Odisha seat, where farmers form a sizeable chunk of the ...

Odisha govt rakes up 'shelved' Bargarh-Nuapada railway project issue

Ahead of the December 5 bypoll to Padampur assembly seat, the BJD government in Odisha on Sunday raked up a 'shelved' railway project connecting Bargarh to Nuapada, accusing the Centre of neglecting the people's demand for improving the connectivity there. The 142-kilometre new broad-gauge line between Bargarh Road to Nuapada Road stations via Padampur was sanctioned in 2018, but later was "shelved by the Centre", state Commerce and Transport Minister Tukuni Sahu said. The woman leader of the BJD, in a letter to Railway Minister Ashiwni Vaishnaw, urged him to sanction the Bargarh-Nuapada new railway line as it would boost economic activities in the region. Accusing the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre of neglecting people in the region, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty pointed out that "Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had, on December 15 in 2018 in a public meeting, announced that a new railway line from Bargarh station to Nuapada via Padampur was sanctioned by the ...

BJP candidate and former MLA files nomination for Dec 5 bypoll in Bihar

BJP candidate and former MLA Kedar Prasad Gupta on Tuesday filed his nomination papers for the December 5 by-poll to Kurhani assembly constituency in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district. Gupta will taking on JD(U) nominee Manoj Singh Kushwaha, a two-time MLA from the constituency. Kushwaha has the support of the seven-party Grand Alliance. Sources in the BJP said Gupta, too, enjoys the support of two factions of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) one led by Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras and the other by his nephew Chirag Paswan. Bypoll to Kurhani seat was necessitated following the disqualification of RJD's Anil Sahni as MLA. Sahani, convicted in a case of fraud by the CBI, has been awarded a three-year jail term. The last date for filing of nominations is November 17. Candidates can withdraw nomination till November 21. Votes will be counted on December 8. Senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, after announcing Kushwaha's candidature for the by-election, had told reporters on Sat