The Election Commission on Monday announced bypolls to five assembly seats in three states including Nandigram, vacated by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari after he chose to retain Bhabanipur where he had defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Five assembly seats across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry go to polls. The bypolls will be held in Tamil Nadu’s Madurantakam (SC) and Dharapuram (SC) Assembly constituencies, Puducherry’s Thattanchavady seat, and West Bengal’s Rejinagar and Nandigram seats. Along with assembly by-elections, bypolls in Assam’s Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency will also be held on October 6. Nagaon seat was vacated by Pradyut Bordoloi, who had won from the constituency on a Congress ticket in 2024. He joined the BJP and won from Dispur in the recent assembly polls.
The Madurantakam (SC) and Dharapuram (SC) Assembly constituencies were won in the recent elections by AIADMK’s Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama, respectively. The two were among a group of rebel AIADMK legislators who backed Chief Minister Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government in a floor test. Kumaravel and Sathyabama later resigned as MLAs and joined the ruling TVK, necessitating the bypolls.
Puducherry’s Thattanchavady seat was vacated by Chief Minister and All India N R Congress chief N Rangasamy, who had won from both Thattanchavady and Mangalam in the Assembly elections. Rangasamy opted to retain Mangalam and resigned from Thattanchavady.
All Eyes On Two Bengal Seats
The Election Commission on Monday announced by-polls to two West Bengal assembly constituencies – Rejinagar and Nandigram – with polling scheduled for October 6 and counting of votes on October 9.
The by-polls have been necessitated after BJP leader and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and AJUP founder Humayun Kabir vacated the Nandigram and Rejinagar seats, respectively, having won two seats each in the recent assembly elections.
Adhikari Vacated Nandigram, Rejinagar Vacated By Former TMC Leader Kabir
Suvendu Adhikari, who led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to its maiden government in West Bengal, contested and won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur seats in the April elections.
He defeated Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in her Bhabanipur stronghold by 15,105 votes and subsequently chose to retain the seat, resigning as the MLA from Nandigram. He had also defeated Banerjee in Nandigram in the 2021 assembly polls.
Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) chief Kabir, a former TMC leader who floated the outfit after his expulsion from the party, had won both Rejinagar and Naoda in the 2026 assembly elections.
What The Election Commission Said
The poll process will begin with the issue of the gazette notification on September 9. The last date for filing of nominations is September 16. Scrutiny will be held on September 17 and candidates can withdraw their nominations till September 19, the poll body said in a release. The entire election process will be completed by October 11, it said.
The EC said continuous updation of electoral rolls would continue till the last date of filing nominations, subject to applications received up to 10 days before the nomination deadline.
EVMs and VVPATs will be used at all polling stations, a Commission official said.
The EPIC card will remain the principal identification document, though voters can also use Aadhaar card, PAN card, driving licence, passport and other documents specified by the EC, the release said.