Voting is underway for by-elections in five Assembly seats across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Kerala amid tight security arrangements on Thursday, June 19. The polling for all five seats started at 7 am.The voting is on in Kaliganj in West Bengal, Nilambur in Kerala, Ludhiana West in Punjab and Kadi and Visavadar in Gujarat. The counting is scheduled for Monday, June 23.The security arrangements included the deployment of central security personnel and police, as well as live monitoring of the by-election process via an extensive webcasting system. With Assembly elections scheduled in two of the states, Kerala and West Bengal, early next year, this mini-election contest has some significance.According to the Election Commission of India, voter turnout in the ongoing by-elections was moderate during the early hours of polling. By 9 am, Nilambur (Kerala) had the highest turnout with 13.15%, followed by Visavadar (Gujarat) at 12.10%, Kaliganj (West Bengal) at 10.83%, Kadi (Gujarat) at 9.05%, and Ludhiana West (Punjab) with the lowest turnout (8.50%).The Ludhiana West Assembly seat became vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January. Among the 14 candidates, the key political players in this by-election are the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, BJP, and Shiromani Akali Dal.The ruling AAP has fielded Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora in the byelection. The Congress has fielded former minister and Punjab Congress Working President Bharat Bhushan Ashu. The BJP has nominated veteran leader Jiwan Gupta, while SAD has given the ticket to Parupkar Singh Ghuman as their candidate for the by-election. The by-election for the Nilambur Assembly constituency in Kerala was called when PV Anvar resigned as MLA of the constituency. Among the ten candidates, M Swaraj of the ruling LDF, Aryadan Shoukath (Congress-led UDF), Trinamool Congress state convener and independent candidate PV Anvar, and Mohan George of the BJP-led NDA are the key runners.The death of Trinamool Congress MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed in February prompted a by-election for the Kaliganj Assembly seat in West Bengal’s Nadia district. His daughter, Alifa, is the Trinamool Congress nominee. The BJP has fielded Ashis Ghosh as their candidate, while Kabil Uddin Shaikh, the Congress nominee, is contesting with the support of the CPI(M).The Visavadar Assembly seat in Gujarat’s Junagadh district has been vacant since December 2023, when AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and then joined the ruling BJP. The BJP has nominated Kirit Patel, while the Congress has chosen Nitin Ranpariya. Gopal Italia, the AAP’s former Gujarat president, has also entered the race, creating a three-way contest.The Kadi seat in Mehsana district became vacant on February 4 due to the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki. The BJP has fielded Rajendra Chavda, while the Congress has nominated Ramesh Chavda, a former MLA who won the seat in 2012 but lost to Solanki in 2017. The AAP is also contesting the seat, with Jagdish Chavda as their candidate.