Counting of votes will be held today, November 6, for the by-election to seven assembly constituencies in six states. Polling was held on November 3 for Mokama and Gopalganj Assembly constituencies of Bihar, Andheri (East) of Maharashtra, Adampur of Haryana, Munugode of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh, and Dhamnagar of Odisha.


The seven assembly seats witnessed a stiff contest between the BJP and the regional parties, the saffron party held three and the Congress two, while the Shiv Sena and the RJD had one each.


For the bypolls in Bihar, the main contest is between the BJP and the RJD, and the saffron party's main contenders in Haryana are the Congress, INLD and the AAP. Main contestants TRS, SP and the BJD are taking on the BJP in Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha respectively are taking on the saffron party.


Gola Gokarannath Bypolls


The BJP is seeking to retain the Gola Gokarannath seat in Uttar Pradesh. The Gola Gokarannath seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Arvind Giri on September 6. With the BSP and the Congress keeping away from the bypolls, there seems to be a direct fight between the BJP's Aman Giri and the SP candidate - former Gola MLA Vinay Tiwari.


Dhamnagar Bypolls


The result of the Dhamnagar assembly is anxiously awaited as a stiff contest is expected between ruling BJD candidate Abanti Das and BJP nominee Suryabanshi Suraj. In the BJD-ruled Odisha, BJP is banking on sympathy votes as it has fielded the sons of sitting MLAs whose death necessitated the bypolls.


The BJD has fielded Abanti Das, the lone woman among the total five candidates in Dhamnagar. Apart from this, the candidature of BJD rebel and former MLA Rajendra Das as an Independent nominee has added colour to the poll battle.


Munugode Bypolls


The BJP and the ruling TRS had been campaigning aggressively in Munugode in Telangana, where the Congress MLA had resigned and is fighting on the saffron party's ticket. 


The Munugode bypoll was necessitated by sitting MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy’s resignation from Congress in August. Reddy has contested the bypoll on a BJP ticket against former TRS MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy. Congress has fielded its late leader Palvai Govardhan Reddy’s daughter Palvai Sravanthi.


Adampur Bypolls


In Adampur, the by-election was necessitated after former chief minister Bhajan Lal's younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned as MLA from the seat and switched from the Congress to the BJP in August. Bishnoi's son Bhavya is now contesting as the BJP candidate.


The Adampur seat has been held by the Bhajan Lal family since 1968, with the late ex-chief minister representing it on nine occasions, his wife Jasma Devi once, and Kuldeep on four occasions.


Bihar Assembly By-election


Bihar saw the first electoral test for the Nitish Kumar-led 'Mahagathbandhan' government, formed less than three months ago after the JD(U) parted ways with the BJP. The Mokama and Gopalganj seats in Bihar were earlier held by the RJD and the BJP respectively.


The BJP is contesting from the Mokama constituency for the first time as the saffron party had, on previous occasions, left the seat to its allies. Both the BJP and the RJD have fielded the wives of local musclemen in the bypolls.


BJP nominee Sonam Devi is up against RJD's Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh's disqualification has necessitated the by-election.


Mokama is the stronghold of Anant Singh since 2005. He won the seat twice on JD(U) tickets and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has appealed to voters to support him.


In Gopalganj, BJP fielded Kusum Devi, the wife of deceased party MLA Subhash Singh. The RJD fielded Mohan Gupta, while Indira Yadav, wife of Lalu Yadav’s brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, is contesting as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate.


Andheri East Bypolls


Shiv Sena's Rutuja Latke is expected to comfortably win the Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai after the BJP withdrew from the contest which is the first after the recent split in the Shiv Sena following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, who replaced Thackeray as the Maharashtra chief minister.


The NCP and Congress have supported her candidature. The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Latke's husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May. 


(With PTI inputs)