Voting is underway for bypolls in five Assembly seats across Gujarat, Punjab, West Bengal, and Kerala since 7 AM on Thursday. Votes for all five seats will be counted on June 23.

The bypolls assume significance since both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition INDIA bloc have fielded candidates for these seats.

Voting in Gujarat Voting is underway for the bypolls to the Visavadar and Kadi assembly seats in Gujarat, where the BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have put up their candidates.

Election officials said polling commenced at 7 AM and will continue until 6 PM. The state government has declared a public holiday on Thursday in both constituencies for voting, said the office of Gujarat’s Chief Electoral Officer. The poll panel said votes would be cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at 294 polling stations in each constituency.

The Visavadar seat in Junagadh district has been vacant since December 2023, when the then AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP. While the BJP has nominated Kirit Patel for the bypoll in Visavadar, the Congress has fielded Nitin Ranpariya. AAP’s former Gujarat president Gopal Italia is also in the fray.

Despite its near-total dominance in the state, the BJP hasn’t won the Vasavadar seat since 2007. Party leaders said they are hopeful of overcoming the 18-year jinx here.

In the last assembly election in 2022, AAP’s Bhupendra Bhayani defeated BJP’s Harshad Ribadiya, a Congress turncoat and former MLA, by 7,063 votes. The Kadi seat in Mehsana district, a constituency reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, has been lying vacant since 4 February, following the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki.

The BJP has fielded Rajendra Chavda from Kadi, while the Congress has given a ticket to Ramesh Chavda, a former MLA. Ramesh Chavda won the seat in 2012, but lost it to BJP’s Karsanbhai Solanki in 2017. Like Visavadar, the Kadi seat will also witness a three-way fight, with the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP fielding Jagdish Chavda.

Votes will be counted on 23 June. In the 182-member Gujarat assembly, the BJP has 161 legislators, Congress 12 and AAP four. While one seat is with the Samajwadi Party, two are with independents.

Kerala’s Nilambur seat In Kerala’s Nilambur seat, the by-election was necessitated after the seat fell vacant since the two-time MLA PV Anvar, previously supported by the Left, switched allegiance to the Congress party. Anvar is contesting the election as an Independent.

The Congress has nominated Aryadan Shoukath, the son of former MLA Aryadan Mohammed, while the ruling LDF is backing M Swaraj.

West Bengal’s Kaliganj seat In West Bengal, polling is underway for the by-election to the Kaliganj Assembly seat in Nadia district. Voting began at 7 AM and will continue until 5 PM here.

Fourteen companies of central forces have been deployed to ensure security during the polling process.

The bypoll was necessitated here after the death of Trinamool Congress MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed in February. His daughter, Alifa Ahamed, is contesting the seat as the Trinamool Congress candidate. The BJP has fielded Ashis Ghosh, while Congress nominee Kabil Uddin Shaikh is contesting with the support of the CPI(M).

Ludhiana West seat up for bypoll in Punjab In Punjab, polling is being held for the Ludhiana West Assembly seat. The seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

Before the voting began on Thursday, the Congress candidate for the Ludhiana West assembly by-poll, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, on Wednesday accused some police officials of acting as workers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), saying they were trying to arrest his party worker who stopped a ruling party volunteer from allegedly distributing rations in the area.

Polling percentage at 9 am According to Election Commission of India data, the polling percentages for Assembly by-polls stood at 12.10% for Visavadar, 9.05% for Kadi, and 13.15% for Nilambur until 9 a.m., while for Ludhiana West and Kaliganj, it was 8.5% and 10.83%, respectively.