Votes are
being counted for seven by-polls in six states across India on Sunday, November
6. Of the seven seats, three were held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two
by the Congress (INC), one by Shiv Sena and one other by the Rashtriya Janata
Dal (RJD). Two of the seats in by-polls are in Bihar, one each in Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Telangana and Odisha.

Bihar

Bihar,
which is seeing two by-polls, is also seeing the first elections since Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar cut ties with the BJP and reunited with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s
RJD now run by his son Tejaswi. The by-polls are being conducted in Mokama and
Gopalganj.

In Mokarma,
the by-election was necessitated after MLA Anant Singh was disqualified for
illegally keeping guns. His wife, Neelam Devi, is RJD’s candidate and she is
leading after the 12th round.

Gopalganj,
which has had BJP at the helm for two decades, is seeing a tight contest. By-polls
became necessary in Gopalganj after MLA Subhash Singh died. His wife Kusum Devi
is BJP’s candidate from the constituency. RJD’s Mohan Prasad Gupta is looking
to defeat her.

Uttar
Pradesh

In Uttar
Pradesh, India’s most populous state which saw elections to its 403-seat
Assembly earlier this year, the Gokkarnnath seat has fallen vacant after its
MLA Arvind Giri died on September 6. The contest is between BJP’s Aman Giri,
Arvind Giri’s son, and Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Vinay Tiwari, a former
MLA.

Maharashtra

Maharashtra
is going to see by-polls at its Andheri East constituency. Polls were necessitated
after MLA Ramesh Latke died of a heart attack in Dubai. His wife Rutuja Latke
is Shiv Sena (Uddhav) candidate from the high-octane constituency. This is the
first time Maharashtra is holding an election since the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)
government fell as Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde led a rebellion in association
with the BJP.

The BJP,
however, withdrew its candidate as part of a “political tradition” in polls
necessitated by a leader’s death.

Telangana

Telengana’s
Munugode constituency polls are perhaps the post critical elections this
by-poll season. The by-polls were necessitated by the Congress MLA resigning
and then fighting on a BJP ticket. Munugode is playing out as a microcosmic
theatre of Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s 2024 Union elections ambitions.

Odisha

In Odisha’s
Dhamnagar, by-polls became necessary after BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi’s death.
BJP has fielded his son in the current contest. The electoral battle is between
Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the BJP.