The Shiv Sena, the RJD, and the BJP each held one of the seven seats when there was a competitive race between them and the saffron party. The Congress held three of the seats.
Today’s byelection results for seven assembly districts across six states will be counted, including Munugode in Telangana, where the TRS, Congress, and BJP engaged in a contentious contest. In Haryana, a family legacy is at stake, and Bihar and Maharashtra are experiencing prestige wars.
The results of the November 3 by-elections will also be announced today for the following districts: Gopalganj in Bihar, Andheri (East) in Maharashtra, Munugode in Telangana, Gola Gokarannath in Uttar Pradesh, and Dhamnagar in Odisha.
The top key points
- Results in the family stronghold of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, Admapur, will determine if Bhavya Bishnoi, Bhajan Lal’s grandson who ran on a BJP ticket, will continue the heritage. This byelection was caused by Kuldeep Bishnoi, Bhavya’s father, defecting to the BJP and resigning as the MLA for Adampur.
- Since 1968, the Bhajan Lal family has held the Adampur seat, with the late ex-chief minister serving there nine times, his wife Jasma Devi once, and Kuldeep four times.
- The incumbent Congress MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy’s resignation in August made the byelection in Telangana’s Munugode necessary. Later, he joined the BJP, and now he is running for office again. In the battle for Munugode, the TRS made shocking allegations about the BJP’s attempt to poach MLAs. K Chandrashekar Rao, the chief minister, also showed video from a TRS MLA’s farmhouse in Hyderabad of the alleged poaching attempt that occurred immediately before the by-elections during a press conference.
- The first contest in Bihar after Nitish Kumar revived the JDU’s alliance with Tejashwi Yadav’s RJD is taking place on two seats. The RJD and the BJP previously held the Mokama and Gopalganj seats in Bihar, respectively.
- Neelam Devi of the RJD will try to hold the seat in Mokama that was formerly held by her husband Anant Singh, a strongman politician who was disqualified after being found guilty of unlawfully possessing firearms. The RJD is attempting to unseat the BJP, which has held Gopalganj in Bihar’s other seat for almost 20 years.
- The BJP is fighting to keep the Gola Gokarannath seat in Uttar Pradesh. After BJP MLA Arvind Giri passed away on September 6, the Gola Gokarannath seat became vacant. There appears to be a direct contest between the BJP’s Aman Giri and the SP candidate, former Gola MLA Vinay Tiwari, while the BSP and the Congress have stayed aside from the byelections.
- The Shiv Sena split into two after Eknath Shinde rebelled and later ousted Uddhav Thackeray to become chief minister of Maharashtra. The Andheri East bypoll is the first after that. The Thackeray-led Sena is fighting for the first time in decades with a new name and a new emblem, the “mashaal” or fiery torch.
- After the BJP withdrew from the race, Rutuja Latke of the Shiv Sena is predicted to easily win the Andheri East Assembly constituency in Mumbai. Ramesh Latke, a Shiv Sena MLA and Latke’s spouse, passed away in May, forcing a by-election.
- Abanti Das, the only female candidate out of a total of five filed by the BJD in Odisha, is running in Dhamnagar. The byelections were necessary due to the passing of BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi. Son of Sethi, Suryabanshi Suraj, has run for office for the saffron party.
- The Shiv Sena, the RJD, and the BJP each held one of the seven seats where there was a competitive race between them and the saffron party. The Congress held three of the seats.
- These outcomes could alter opinions as regional parties attempt to form a cohesive front for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.