Five Assembly seats up for grabs across four states; key contests in Visavadar, Kaliganj, Nilambur, and Ludhiana West
The counting of votes is underway for by-elections to five Assembly seats spread across Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala, and West Bengal. The polling, held on June 19, saw varying voter turnouts, with Kerala’s Nilambur seat leading at over 75 per cent.
In Gujarat, the Visavadar and Kadi seats recorded turnouts of 56.89% and 57.90% respectively. Kadi witnessed a triangular contest with BJP’s Rajendra Chavda, Congress’ Ramesh Chavda, and AAP’s Jagdish Chavda. In Visavadar, BJP’s Kirit Patel faced off against AAP’s Gopal Italia and Congress’ Nitin Ranpariya.
Punjab's Ludhiana West, which saw a voter turnout of 51.33%, is witnessing a four-cornered battle among AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, Congress’ Bharat Bhushan Ashu, BJP’s Jiwan Gupta, and SAD’s Parupkar Singh Ghumman. There is speculation that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal may be nominated to the Rajya Sabha if Arora wins, though party leaders have denied this.
West Bengal’s Kaliganj seat reported a voter turnout of 69.85%. The contest is primarily between Congress-Left’s Kabil Uddin Sheikh, Trinamool Congress’ Alifa Ahmed, and BJP’s Ashish Ghosh. In Kerala, the Nilambur bypoll saw the highest voter participation at 75.27%. The ruling LDF has fielded M. Swaraj, with Aryadan Shoukath (UDF), P.V. Anvar (Trinamool), and Mohan George (NDA) also in the fray. The outcome is expected to be a litmus test for the Left government ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.
The bypolls were necessitated due to the deaths of sitting MLAs in three seats and resignations in two others. Counting continues amid tight security.Five Assembly seats up for grabs across four states; key contests in Visavadar, Kaliganj, Nilambur, and Ludhiana West.
