Apart from announcing the dates for the Bihar Assembly elections, the Election Commission (EC) on Monday also announced bypolls for eight Assembly constituencies spread across Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Punjab, Telangana and Rajasthan.
These will coincide with the second phase of polling in Bihar, on November 11 and the results will be declared on November 14, the same day as Bihar.
The Assembly constituencies in J&K, Budgam and Nagrota, have been vacant since October 2024, Rajasthan’s Anta has not had an MLA since this May, Telangana’s Jubilee Hills and Tarn Taran in Punjab have been vacant since June, Dampa in Mizoram since July, Jharkhand’s Ghatshila constituency since August, and Nuapada in Odisha since September 8.
Budgam, J&K (Last winner: NC)
The central Kashmir seat fell vacant after Omar Abdullah resigned, since he had also won from Ganderbal.
A constituency with a substantial Shia population, Budgam is considered a National Conference (NC) stronghold, particularly its leader Aga Ruhullah Mehdi. A four-time MLA from Budgam — 1996, 2002, 2008, 2014 — Mehdi was elected MP from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat in 2024.
Abdullah’s victory in Budgam last year was largely credited to Mehdi’s clout. But in recent months, he has spoken out against the NC leadership over various issues, and the party could face a tough time in the bypoll.
The first difficulty may be choosing a candidate. The NC wants to give the ticket to Abdullah’s advisor Nasir Aslam Wani, while Mehdi is said to be insistent on fielding a “local” face. Moreover, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is likely to field Mehdi’s cousin Muntazir Mehdi, who lost to Abdullah last year. The two cousins have had a strained relationship for many years now. So, for Mehdi, in ways more than one, the elections are crucial to cementing his position in the party and the political landscape of J&K.
Nagrota, J&K (Last winner: BJP)
Nagrota fell vacant following the death of sitting BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana, the younger brother of Union Minister Jitendra Singh, in October 2024.
The electorate in the constituency, where the Army’s 16 Corps headquarters is located, is almost entirely Hindu, with Muslims and Sikhs in almost equal numbers making up the rest. The NC won the seat in 1996 but the BJP won in 2002 and 2008. In 2014, Rana won the seat but at the time he was in the NC. After the 2019 bifurcation of J&K into two Union Territories, Rana joined the BJP. Even the previous NC winner from Nagrota, Yuvraj Ajatshatru Singh, later moved to the BJP.
Since Rana’s death, his daughter Devyani has actively participated in women’s empowerment initiatives in the constituency. Devyani, who is a vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha’s J&K unit, is expected to be the party’s candidate.
Anta, Rajasthan (Last winner: BJP)
The seat in Baran district has been vacant since sitting BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena was disqualified this May after being found guilty in a 20-year-old case on the charges of assault of a public servant, criminal intimidation, and damage to public property. The complainant in the assault case was Ramniwas Mehta, a Rajasthan Administrative Service officer at the time of the incident.
The constituency has been held by either the BJP or the Congress and in 2023, changed hands as Meena defeated sitting Congress MLA and minister Pramod Jain Bhaya by 5,861 votes. Meena is considered to be close to former CM Vasundhara Raje and the party is expected to field someone close to him. The Congress may again field Bhaya.
Jubilee Hills, Telangana (Last winner: BRS)
The bypoll in this urban seat in Hyderabad became necessary following the death of sitting Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA Maganti Gopinath in June.
For all three main parties in Telangana — Congress, BRS, and BJP — the bypoll is a crucial test of their strength. Battered by successive losses and a split in its first family led by K Chandrashekar Rao, the BRS can ill afford another loss, while the Congress hopes to register a presence among urban voters by winning the constituency.
The BRS has announced it will field Gopinath’s wife Sunita, while the other two parties have yet to name their candidates.
Dampa, Mizoram (Last winner: MNF)
The constituency in Mizoram’s Mamit Lok Sabha seat became vacant when its two-time MLA from the Mizo National Front (MNF), Lalrintluanga Sailo, passed away in July. While the MNF lost power to the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), Dampa was one of the only 10 that the MNF managed to retain.
All four major parties have put forward big names for the bypoll. The ZPM has nominated popular gospel singer Vanlalsailova, who lost to Lalrintluanga in 2023. The MNF has nominated former minister R Lalthangliana, who contested from South Tuipui in 2023 but lost to ZPM candidate and popular footballer Jeje Lalpekhlua. The Congress has fielded former minister John Rotluangliana who was last elected to the Assembly in 2013. The BJP has fielded Lalhminthanga Sailo who recently joined from the Congress after being denied a ticket. He was the Congress’s candidate last time around.
At present, the Mizoram assembly has 27 MLAs from the ZPM, nine from the MNF, two from the BJP, and one from the Congress.
Nuapada, Odisha (Last winner: BJD)
The bypoll in this seat in the Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat became necessary following the death of BJD MLA Rajendra Dholakia last month.
The constituency, which falls on the border with Chhattisgarh, has a significant tribal population and will be the first test of Naveen Patnaik since his party lost power last year. It will also be seen as a referendum on the 15-month-old BJP government. For the Congress, it will be the first election under the leadership of new state chief Bhakta Charan Das, who is from the nearby Kalahandi district.
The BJD will count on the popularity of Dholakia, who was a popular figure and an influential force in Nuapada politics over the past two decades. He won the seat four times, in 2004 as an Independent and then as a BJD candidate in 2009, 2019, and 2024. In 2014, he lost to former state BJP chief Basanta Panda, who finished third last year. Panda had won the constituency in 2000, too.
Despite not having a strong base in the constituency, the Congress is hopeful about improving its position in the seat and has brought back popular tribal face Ghasiram Majhi, who contested last year’s elections as an Independent after being denied a ticket. He finished second.
Tarn Taran, Punjab (Last winner: AAP)
The bypoll, which became necessary following the death of AAP MLA Dr Kashmir Singh Sohal on June 27, comes in the backdrop of devastating floods that caused havoc in the border districts of Punjab in particular.
The AAP has fielded former Akali and three-time MLA Harmeet Singh, while the Congress has gone with its Tarn Taran district president Karanbir Singh Burj and the BJP has announced its district president Harjit Singh Sandhu, another former Akali leader, as its candidate. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has decided to field Bibi Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa, a school principal who has been active in the region in the last couple of years.
Since 1997, the semi-urban, Sikh-dominated seat has been dominated by the SAD, which ended in 2017 as the party was swept out of power and the constituency went to the Congress.
The bypoll in Tarn Taran, which is part of the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat, will also see the Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) led by Amritpal Singh, currently in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, attempt to create an impact. His outfit, along with the newly formed SAD faction led by Giani Harpreet Singh, is considering backing a person accused of the murder of Shiv Sena leader Sudhir Suri. The accused, Sandeep Singh, was recently booked for attacking a police officer convicted of fake encounters. Either Sandeep Singh or a member of his family is likely to contest as an Independent.
Ghatsila, Jharkhand (Last winner: JMM)
The seat fell vacant after Jharkhand Education Minister Ramdas Soren died at a private hospital in New Delhi on August 15.
A senior leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Soren represented the constituency thrice. The ruling party will count on the work he did in the area. He won the seat for the first time in 2009 but lost to the BJP’s Lakshman Tudu five years later before reclaiming it in 2019. In 2024, the JMM leader defeated former CM Champai Soren’s son Babulal.
(With inputs from Bashaarat Masood in Srinagar, Hamza Khan in Jaipur, Nikhila Henry in Hyderabad, Sukrita Baruah in Guwahati, Sujit Bisoyi in Bhubaneswar, and Kamaldeep Singh Brar in Amritsar)
