Bypolls 2024: Voting in 15 Assembly Seats Across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, and Uttarakhand
Bypolls for 15 assembly seats across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, and Uttarakhand are taking place today, November 20, with the vote counting scheduled for November 23.
In Uttar Pradesh, elections are being held in Katehari, Karhal, Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur, and Kundarki. A total of 90 candidates are contesting, with Ghaziabad seeing the highest number of 14 candidates. The electorate includes 34,35,974 eligible voters, comprising 18,46,846 men, 15,88,967 women, and 161 third-gender voters. Ghaziabad has the largest voter base, while Sisamau has the smallest.
This marks the first electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh for both the INDIA bloc and the NDA since the Lok Sabha elections. In the 2022 assembly elections, Sisamau, Katehari, Karhal, and Kundarki were won by the Samajwadi Party (SP), while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, and Khair. The Meerapur seat was secured by the BJP ally, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
In Punjab, bypolls are being held in four assembly seats – Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC), and Barnala. These elections were necessitated as the MLAs from these seats were elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year. The Congress previously held Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, and Chabbewal, while Barnala was under the AAP’s control.
Key candidates in these bypolls include former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal (BJP), Congress’s Amrita Warring, Jatinder Kaur, AAP’s Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon, Dr Ishank Kumar Chabbewal, and others. Amrita Warring is married to Punjab Congress chief and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, while Jatinder Kaur is the spouse of Gurdaspur MP and former Punjab deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
In Kerala, voting will also take place for the Palakkad seat, which became vacant after Congress MLA Shafi Parambil was elected to the Lok Sabha from Vadakara. The Kedarnath seat in Uttarakhand is also up for grabs following the death of sitting BJP MLA Shailarani Rawat in July.
The bypolls are crucial for the political landscape in these states as they reflect shifting alliances and voter sentiments ahead of the next general elections.
