Bypoll Results 2024: The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 Assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments Wayanad in Kerala and of Nanded in Maharashtra will begin at 8 AM on Saturday.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's fate following her poll debut from Wayanad will be decided today. She was nominated as Congress's candidate for Wayanad after her brother, Rahul Gandhi, who earlier represented the seat in the Lok Sabha, vacated it after winning from Raebareli in the Lok Sabha polls 2024. Priyanka Gandhi was up against Communist Party of India (CPI) veteran Sathyan Mokeri and BJP's Navya Haridas.
Elaborate arrangements were done ahead of the results announcement for the the three bypolls in Kerala -- Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Palakkad and Chelakkara Assembly seats.
The Assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh were held in nine seats, while in Rajasthan bypolls were held in seven seats. Additionally, six seats in West Bengal, four seats each in Punjab and Bihar, five seats in Assam, two seats each in Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, three seats in Karnataka, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, and Meghalaya also went for bypolls.
UP Bypolls
In Uttar Pradesh, bypolls were held in the Meerapur, Kundarki, Sisamau, Katehari, Phulpur, Majhawan, Ghaziabad, Karhal and Khair seats on November 20. While the bypolls result here will not impact the composition of the 403-member UP Assembly, the electoral contest is the first major face-off between the ruling BJP and its rivals since the shocking outcome in the Lok Sabha election. The BJP and the opposition parties have slammed each other for engaging in election malpractices.
Ahead of the counting of votes, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav exuded confidence that his party will win the bypolls, while Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has stressed that the saffron party will emerge victorious.
While the Congress did not contest the bypolls, it extended support to the SP. The Bahujan Samaj Party contested independently on all nine seats, while Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) named its candidates to contest from Kundarki, Ghaziabad, and Meerapur. The Chandrashekhar Azad-led Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) also contested all seats except Sisamau.
Rajasthan And Punjab Bypolls
A three-tier security arrangement was deployed ahead of the counting of the votes that were cast in the seven Assembly bypolls in Rajasthan, an official told news agency PTI.
Rajasthan bypolls were held on November 13 for Jhunjhunu, Dausa, Ramgarh, Deoli-Uniara, Salumbar, Khinvsar, and Chaurasi seats.
Punjab Bypolls were held in the Dera Baba Nanak, Gidderbaha, Chabbewal (reserved for SC candidates), and Barnala Assembly seats on Wednesday. The bypolls were necessitated after the respective incumbent MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.
The contest in Punjab is a litmus test for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who has been in power for two and a half years. Besides, AAP, the Congress and the BJP are also contesting the Punjab bypolls.
Karnataka And Chattisgarh Bypolls
A fierce fight was held between the ruling Congress and the BJP-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka, where bypolls were held to the Shiggaon, Sandur, and Channapatna Assembly seats on November 13.
It is being viewed as a test for the ruling Congress as favourable outcome would be an endorsement for both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar. On the contrary, a good performance by the BJP would be seen as a way of silencing the critics of its state president B Y Vijayendra within the organisation fold.
Karnataka bypoll is a battle of prestige for JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy as his son Nikhil is testing his electoral fortunes from Channapatna after losing in earlier contests. The seat was vacated by Kumaraswamy after he was elected to the Lok Sabha.
In Chhattisgarh, the counting of votes will also done for the Raipur City South Assembly bypoll, where polling was held on November 13.
The ruling BJP and main opposition Congress were pitted against each other in a direct battle in the seat. The bypoll was necessitated after incumbent BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal got elected to the lower house.
West Bengal And Uttarakhand Bypolls
The Madarihat, Sitai, Naihati, Haroa, Taldangra, and Medinipur Assembly segments in West Bengal went to bypolls on November 13.
Five of these constituencies are a stronghold of the the Trinamool Congress (TMC), while Madarihat is a BJP bastion in the northern parts Bengal. In West Bengal too, the bypolls were necessitated after the incumbent MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha.
Notably, the Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front contested the bypolls separately for the first time since 2021.
Uttarakhand's Kedarnath in Rudraprayag district also went to bypolls on November 20. The Assembly seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Shaila Rani Rawat in July.
In addition to this, bypolls were also held in Assam's Sidli, Dholai, Bongaigaon, Samaguri, and Behali Assembly segments, and in Ramgarh, Tarari, Imamganj, and Belaganj in Bihar. Gujarat's Vav, Vijaypur and Budhni in Madhya Pradesh, and Gambegre in Meghalaya also went for bypolls.