Votes are being tallied in the seven assembly constituencies where elections were held on September 5. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won both Tripura seats and Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, while the Congress' Chandy Oommen won Puthuppally in Kerala, the Trinamool Congress secured a West Bengal seat and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won in Dumri. These polls serve as a crucial litmus test for the newly-formed Opposition alliance, INDIA, as they face off against the BJP-led NDA for the first time.

The outcome of these by-elections will likely influence the political landscape in the run-up to the state elections later this year and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The vote-counting process commenced promptly at 8 a.m. in designated centres within each of the six states. Here's a breakdown of the constituencies in question:

Ghosi, Uttar Pradesh

The Ghosi seat was vacated following the resignation of Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA and OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan, who later rejoined the BJP. The opposition alliance, INDIA, put up a united front in this constituency and fielded SP candidate Sudhakar Singh, who secured a victory over BJP's Dara Singh Chauhan with a margin of over 1.24 lakh votes, ABP news reported.

Security was heightened in Mau ahead of the results which are scheduled to be declared later today. A voter turnout of 50.77 percent was recorded on September 5.

Dumri, Jharkhand

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)'s Bebi Devi won the by-election in Dumri in Jharkhand and defeated her nearest All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) rival Yashoda Devi on Friday.

A total of 64.84 percent of voters exercised their franchise in this constituency.

Bageshwar, Uttarakhand

BJP candidate Parwati Dass won the Bageshwar assembly bypoll in Uttarakhand on Friday, defeating Congress' Basant Kumar.

This seat became vacant due to the passing of its MLA and cabinet minister Chandan Ram Das in April this year. The INDIA alliance posted a united front here.

Dhupguri, West Bengal

The ruling Trinamool Congress wrested the Dhupguri assembly seat in West Bengal on Friday from the BJP, whose candidate Tapasi Roy was leading earlier in the day. TMC candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy, a college professor, won the seat by over 4,000 votes.

CPI(M) candidate Ishwar Chandra Roy, who was backed by the Congress, was at a distant third spot.

The by-election here witnessed a high turnout of 76 percent of eligible voters.

Puthuppally, Kerala

Congress candidate Chandy Oommen won the Puthuppally assembly seat in Kerala, PTI said on Friday afternoon per EC sources. The constituency saw a fierce battle between the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) after the demise of Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy.

Boxanagar and Dhanpur, Tripura

The BJP won the by-elections in both Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly seats in Tripura, per the Election Commission of India (ECI).

BJP's Tafajjal Hossain secured a landslide victory in Boxanagar, which has around 66 percent minority voters. Hossain got 34,146 votes, while his nearest rival Mizan Hossain of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) got 3,909 votes.

BJP candidate Bindu Debnath bagged the Dhanpur seat, which has a significant tribal population. Debnath got 30,017 votes, and his nearest rival Kaushik Chanda of the CPI(M) got 11,146 votes.

The CPI(M) boycotted the counting of votes after alleging large-scale rigging during the polling and inaction by the ECI.

The INDIA bloc includes 26 parties including the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT), TMC, JMM, Aam Aadmi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, CPI(M), Communist Party of India, Rashtriya Janata Dal, SP and Rashtriya Lok Dal.

First Published:Sept 8, 2023 9:07 AM IST