Election Commission ordered six bypolls to start at 8 a.m. today across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Assam, following the resignation of elected members who had chosen to retain other seats. The six constituencies—Nandigram and Rejinagar in West Bengal, Madurantakam and Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu, Thattanchavady in Puducherry, and Nagaon in Assam—were left vacant after winners elected to hold multiple seats.
West Bengal’s Nandigram and Rejinagar seat contests will be closely watched, as the BJP’s candidate Hasirani Rath, mother of former associate Chandranath Rath, faces a field that includes a unified Trinamool‑Congress coalition and a split TMC faction. The Nandigram bypoll is especially significant because the ruling BJP government was formed only a month ago, and the TMC’s party name and symbol were frozen by the Election Commission after a split.
Tamil Nadu’s Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls feature former AIADMK MLAs K Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama now running for the ruling Trinamool‑Vijay (TVK) party. Each seat sees a four‑way contest involving the TVK, DMK, AIADMK and CPI, with 27 candidates in Madurantakam and 30 in Dharapuram, raising the possibility of vote‑splitting that could sway turnout.
In Puducherry, the Thattanchavady seat will test the ruling alliance’s hold in the Union Territory, while Assam’s Nagaon bypoll will gauge the local strength of the national parties in a seat that has historically swung between alliances. Both contests were triggered when sitting MPs opted to retain another Lok Sabha or Assembly seat.
The election commission has scheduled the vote tally for Oct 9, a day that will provide the first tangible indicator of how the BJP and its allies are faring in the wake of the May assembly elections. Parties are bracing for early results that could shape the next phase of India’s electoral politics.