Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar announced the election dates at a press conference at 3:30 pm.
The Election Commission on Tuesday also announced the by-election dates for 48 Assembly and 2 Lok Sabha seats in 14 states along with Maharashtra-Jharkhand. Voting will be held on November 13 for 47 assembly seats in 13 states along with Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. At the same time, Nanded Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra and Kedarnath assembly seat in Uttarakhand will go to polls on November 20. All results will be out on November 23.
Out of 48 assembly seats, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of 9 seats. However, the by-election will not be held on the Milkipur seat now, as former MLA Baba Gorakhnath has filed a court case.
Apart from this, there will be assembly by-elections on 7 seats of Rajasthan, 6 of West Bengal, 5 of Assam, 4 each of Bihar and Punjab, 3 of Karnataka, 2 each of Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim, 1 each of Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya and Chhattisgarh.
Why seats fell vacant: 42 became MPs, 3 died Out of 48 assembly seats, 42 MLAs have become MPs. Out of them maximum 11 MLAs are from Congress, 9 from BJP, 5 each from SP-TMC and 12 from other parties. Three of the remaining six seats fell vacant due to death. The seat fell vacant due to the jailing of an SP MLA, the resignation of two MLAs in Sikkim and the defection of one MLA in Madhya Pradesh. The Wayanad seat in Kerala has fallen vacant due to the resignation of Rahul Gandhi and the Nanded seat in Maharashtra has fallen vacant due to the death of a Congress MP.
By-elections to Lok Sabha seats in 2 states
Maximum 9 seats of UP Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of 9 seats out of 48 assembly seats, one of which, Milkipur seat, will not hold a by-election at present. Consisting of 7 assembly seats from Rajasthan, 6 from West Bengal, 5 from Assam, 4 from Bihar, 4 from Punjab, 3 from Karnataka, 2 from Kerala, 2 from Madhya Pradesh, 2 from Sikkim, 1 from Gujarat, 1 from Uttarakhand, 1 from Meghalaya and 1 from Chhattisgarh.
Equation of assembly by-elections in states
Uttar Pradesh: 6 out of 10 seats were held by SP, 3 seats were held by BJP
Out of the 9 seats of UP which by-elections are to be held, 6 seats were held by SP and 3 seats by BJP. One seat was held by Nishad Party. So far SP has announced candidates on 6 seats while BSP has announced candidates on 5 seats. BJP has not announced candidates yet, but in a meeting held in Delhi two days ago, it has been decided to field candidates on 9 seats. One seat will be given to RLD.
Rajasthan: Congress won 4 out of 7 seats, Bharatiya Adivasi Party, RLP, BJP one seat each.
These seats will be re-polled within 11 months of the assembly elections to be held in Rajasthan in 2023. Out of 7 seats BJP had only MLA Amritalal Meena from Salamber seat, out of remaining 6 seats Congress had 4 seats, Bharatiya Adivasi Party one seat and National Democratic Party (RLP) 1 seat. There were Congress MLAs from Jhunzhunu, Dausa, Deoli-Uniyara and Ramgarh seats.
Madhya Pradesh: BJP-Congress have one seat each
Voting will be held on November 13 for the by-elections to Budhni and Vijaypur assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. The result will be declared on November 23. Nominations for both the seats can be made from 18 to 25 October. Scrutiny will be held on October 28. At the same time, names can be withdrawn till October 30.
Bihar: 2 out of 4 seats RJD, one seat each by CPI (ML) and HAM
In Bihar, Tarari, Ramgarh, Belaganj and Imamganj assembly seats are lying vacant. MLAs from these four seats have reached Lok Sabha in Lok Sabha Election 2024. These four seats have become vacant following the victory of Sudhakar Singh of RJD in Ramgarh, Sudama Prasad of CPI (ML) in Tarari, Surendra Yadav of RJD in Belaganj and Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM in Imamganj.
Punjab: Of the four assembly seats in Punjab, 3 were held by Congress, one by AAP
Elections have been announced for Barnala, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal and Giddarbaha seats in Punjab. Of the four assembly seats in Punjab, 3 were held by Congress and one by AAP.
Understand the details of other 9 states through graphics
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).