Hyderabad: In an unusually high-pitched campaign which is seen as a battle of prestige for political parties, seven vacant assembly seats spread across six states will go to polls tomorrow (November 3). Bypolls will be held on Munugode of Telangana, Andheri (East) of Maharashtra, Adampur of Haryana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh, Dhamnagar of Odisha, and two seats -- Mokama and Gopalganj -- of Bihar.
Of these seven seats, the BJP and the Congress held two seats each, and the BJD, Shiv Sena and RJD held one seat each. While a victory in the bypolls will not affect their position in the assemblies, the regional parties have undertaken an aggressive campaign to thwart the challenge from the BJP. The counting of votes will take place on November 6.
Andheri East—Maharashtra
In Andheri (East) of Maharashtra, the BJP has pulled out of the race after the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray fielded the wife of its deceased MLA Ramesh Latke from the constituency. Rutuja Latke is expected to score an easy victory in the election which is the first after the recent split in the Shiv Sena following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, who replaced Thackeray as the Maharashtra chief minister.
Munugode—Telangana
Byelection to Munugode seat was necessitated by the resignation of sitting Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy who later joined the BJP. The TRS, recently rechristened as Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), wants to demonstrate its dominance in state politics and go national with a big win here. Opposition would be emboldened ahead of the Assembly polls otherwise.
The BJP which fights to emerge as the alternative to TRS is flying high following its victories in Dubbak and Huzurabad Assembly bypolls and also the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election during the last two years. Reddy, who is seeking re-election on a BJP ticket, former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy of TRS and Congress' Palvai Sravanthi are the main contenders—a tricorner contest.
Mokama, Gopalganj—Bihar
Mokama and Gopalganj by-elections will be the first electoral test the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U)-RJD combine face after he snapped ties with Saffron party. Nitish had urged voters of Mokama to support Neelam Devi, the RJD candidate. She is the wife of Nitish's former protege Anant Kumar Singh.
Anant Singh's disqualification has necessitated the by-election. He was disqualified earlier this year upon conviction in a case relating to the recovery of arms and explosives from his residence. The BJP candidate is Sonam Devi, wife of a local muscleman Lalan Singh who has been opposing Anant Singh.
In Gopalganj, BJP has fielded Kusum Devi, the wife of deceased party MLA Subhash Singh. The RJD has fielded Mohan Gupta, while Indira Yadav, wife of Lalu Yadav's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, is contesting as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate, which makes the contest interesting.
Gola Gorakhnath—Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh's Gola Gorakhnath seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Arvind Giri on September 6. The BSP and Congress are not in the fray. The contest is a direct fight between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. Aman Giri, son of Arvind Giri, is the BJP candidate for the bypolls.
He will take on former Gola MLA Vinay Tiwari from the Samajwadi Party. Not being complacent with the sympathy wave, the BJP has pulled all stops by deputing as many as 40 star campaigners including all major UP cabinet ministers and party office-bearers and is fighting hard to win the seat.
Adampur—Haryana
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar has been actively campaigning for Adampur Assembly bypolls in Haryana's Hisar district, where former chief minister Bhajan Lal's grandson is among 22 candidates in the fray. The bypolls were necessitated after Kuldeep Bishnoi's resignation from the grand old party.
Bishnoi who is the younger son of Bhajan Lal resigned as MLA from the seat and switched to the BJP from the Congress in August. Bishnoi's son Bhavya is contesting the bypolls as a BJP candidate. The BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal and Aam Aadmi Party are the key contestants in the bypolls.
Dhamnagar—Odisha
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik had on Monday addressed voters in Dhamnagar through the virtual mode and promised that five years of work will be completed in 18 months. Patnaik who is also the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president urged them to elect a woman from the seat as mothers work more efficiently.
The BJD has fielded Abanti Das, the lone woman among the total five candidates. BJP MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi's death necessitated the bypolls. The saffron party, banking on sympathy votes, has fielded Sethi's son Suryabanshi Suraj and has been on a high octane campaign.
