The results of the elections in seven assembly constituencies in six states will be declared today. This includes former chief minister Bhajan Lal's family bastion Admapur in Haryana. Bhajan Lal's grandson Bhavya Bishnoi, who contested on a BJP ticket, and RJD's Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh's disqualification necessitated the by-election in Bihar's Mokama, are among the prominent candidates in the fray.

The other constituencies where results of the November 3 bypolls will be out are Gopalganj in Bihar, Andheri (East) of Maharashtra, Munugode of Telangana, Gola Gokarannath of Uttar Pradesh, and Dhamnagar of Odisha.

Among the seven seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held three and the Congress two, the Shiv Sena and the RJD held one seat each.

The BJP and the RJD will square off in Bihar's by-elections, and the Congress, INLD, and AAP will be the saffron party's top challengers in Haryana. The TRS in Telangana, Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, and Biju Janata Dal in Odisha are the main challengers facing up against the BJP.

BJP is hoping to hold onto the Gola Gokarannath seat in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in the BJD-ruled Odisha, by fielding the sons of incumbent MLAs whose deaths forced the byelections. After BJP MLA Arvind Giri passed away on September 6, the Gola Gokarannath seat became vacant. Since the BSP and Congress are staying away from the byelections, it appears that Aman Giri of the BJP and Vinay Tiwari of the SP would be engaged in a direct contest.

The BJD has fielded Abanti Das, the lone woman among the total five candidates in Dhamnagar. BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi's death necessitated the by-election. The saffron party has fielded Sethi's son Suryabanshi Suraj.

The BJP and the ruling TRS had been campaigning aggressively in Munugode in Telangana, where the Congress MLA had resigned and is fighting on the saffron party's ticket.

In Adampur, the by-election was necessitated after former chief minister Bhajan Lal's younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned as MLA from the seat and switched from the Congress to the BJP in August. Bishnoi's son Bhavya is now contesting as the BJP candidate.

The Mokama and Gopalganj seats in Bihar were earlier held by the RJD and the BJP, respectively. The BJP is contesting from the Mokama constituency for the first time as the saffron party had, on previous occasions, left the seat to its allies. The BJP and the RJD have fielded the wives of local musclemen in the bypolls.

BJP nominee Sonam Devi is up against RJD's Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh's disqualification has necessitated the by-election. Mokama has been the stronghold of Anant Singh since 2005. He won the seat twice on JD(U) tickets, and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has appealed to voters to support him.

In Gopalganj, BJP fielded Kusum Devi, the wife of deceased party MLA Subhash Singh. The RJD fielded Mohan Gupta, while Indira Yadav, wife of Lalu Yadav's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, is contesting as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate.

Shiv Sena's Rutuja Latke is expected to comfortably win the Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai after the BJP withdrew from the contest, which is the first after the recent split in the Shiv Sena following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, who replaced Thackeray as the Maharashtra chief minister.

The NCP and Congress have supported her candidature.

The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Latke's husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May.

First Published:Nov 6, 2022 8:49 AM IST