Bypolls for vacant seats in four assembly states to be held on Sept 23

By-elections for four assembly seats in Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh will be held on September 23, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Sunday.

The by-elections will be held for Dantewada seat in Chhattisgarh, Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh, Pala in Kerala and Bhadarghat in Tripura, the ECI said.

With the announcement of the election schedule, a model code of conduct has come into effect in these constituencies.

The nominations filing procedure will start from August 28 till September 4 while the last date of withdrawal of candidature is September 7.

The counting of votes will take place on September 27.

The ECI has taken the decision to hold by-polls after taking into consideration various factors like local festivals, electoral rolls, weather conditions etc.

The Commission has decided to use EVMs and WPATs in the bye-election in all the polling stations. Adequate numbers of EVMs and WPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines, the ECI said in a press note.