Voting begins for Assembly bypolls in Karnataka, Nagaland, and Tripura

Voting for Assembly bye-elections for Davangere South and Bagalkot constituencies in Karnataka, Koridang constituency in Nagaland, and Dharmanagar constituency in Tripura began on Thursday morning.

In Karnataka, Congress has fielded Umesh Meti from the Bagalkot constituency and Samarth Mallikarjun as the candidate for the bye-elections to the Davanagere South seat.

Umesh Meti is the son of late Congress leader Meti Hullappa Yamanappa (HY Meti), who represented the Bagalkot seat, while Samarth Mallikarjun is the son of Karnataka Minister SS Mallikarjun. The BJP has fielded Veerabhadrayya Charantimath and Srinivas T. Dasakariyappa from Bagalkot and Davanagere South assembly constituencies, respectively.

The Bagalkot seat fell vacant after the death of HY Meti and Davanagere South, following the death of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.

 

In Nagaland, Congress' candidate T Chalukumba AO is pitted against veteran BJP leader Imkong L Imchen's son Daochier I Imchen for the Koridang seat bye-election.

T Chalukumba AO had contested the 2023 Nagaland Assembly elections on a Janata Dal (United) ticket.

The BJP State Council Member Imchainba Jamir had withdrawn his candidature in favour of Imchen.

The Koridang (ST) seat in Nagaland became vacant after the death of veteran BJP leader Imkong L Imchen.

In Tripura, the BJP has named Jahar Chakraborti as the party's candidate for the Dharmanagar seat, against Congress' Chayan Bhattacharjee. Amitabha Datta of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is also in the fray.

The seat fell vacant after the demise of Tripura Speaker and four-time MLA Biswa Bandhu Sen.

The vacant assembly constituency in Goa was also scheduled to hold polling today; however, the Bombay High Court cancelled the Ponda bye-elections.

The results for the bye-elections will be announced on May 4.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) had earlier announced the schedule for bye-elections across eight Assembly constituencies in six states. Polling for bypolls in Umreth (Gujarat), Rahuri, and Baramati (Maharashtra) will take place on April 23, with the counting of votes to take place on May 4.