Voting begins today in six states, and the INDIA Bloc faces its first significant electoral test

On Tuesday morning, voting began for an important by-election for seven Assembly seats in six states. This election is seen as the INDIA opposition bloc’s first significant test against the BJP. On September 8, there will be a vote count.

While the opposition coalition is running as a single candidate in the Uttar Pradesh Ghosi seat, Jharkhand’s Dumri, Tripura’s Dhanpur and Boxanagar, and Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar, its members are running in opposition to one another in the West Bengal districts of Dhupguri and Puthuppally.

Known more commonly as the “INDIA bloc,” the opposition coalition is made up of 28 parties, including the Congress, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP group, the Shiv Sena (UBT), the TMC, JMM, AAP, DMK, NC, PDP, CPI(M), CPI, RJD, SP, and RLD.

Here is a quick overview of the states holding the important by-elections today.

UPPER HARBOR
After Dara Singh Chauhan, an OBC politician and former Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA, resigned and joined the BJP, the Ghosi seat in Uttar Pradesh became vacant.

While Chauhan is the candidate of the governing BJP-led NDA, Sudhakar Singh of the Samajwadi Party gets the backing of the Left and Congress. Yogi Adityanath’s previous BJP administration had Chauhan as a minister. On January 12, 2022, he left the Council of Ministers and joined the SP.

The opposition’s unity is being put to the test, and both sides are aware that a victory might tip the balance in their favor for the Lok Sabha elections the following year, thus the campaigning has been intense. There are 80 MPs from Uttar Pradesh in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, spearheaded the BJP’s assault. It’s interesting to note that SP leader Akhilesh Yadav spoke at a campaign rally in Ghosi despite having ignored the other two prominent by-elections in Rampur and Azamgarh last year.

He predicted that the election will reshape the political landscape of the nation.

Bengal West
The TMC, BJP, and CPI(M), which is backed by the Congress, are engaged in a three-way race for the Dhupguri assembly seat in north Bengal.

The BJP seized the seat in 2021 after the TMC had won it in 2016.

Tripura
Chief Minister Manik Saha commanded the party’s campaign in Tripura’s Sepahijala district for the Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly seats.

Congress and the major opposition, Tipra Motha, have abstained. On Sunday, the Tripura Pradesh Congress asked citizens to support the candidates of the opposition INDIA alliance in the two seats.

In the minority-dominated Boxanagar seat, still seen as the Left party’s bastion, BJP’s Tafajjal Hussain and CPI(M)’s Mizan Hussain will square off. Both candidates ran unsuccessfully in the February Assembly election.

Formerly a stronghold of the communists, Bindu Debnath of the BJP and Kaushik Debnath of the CPI(M) are set to square off in Dhanpur.

“All necessary arrangements have been made for conducting free, fair, and peaceful elections,” Additional Chief Electoral Officer UG Mog told PTI.

Given that both seats share a border with Bangladesh, the international border has been blocked to avoid any encroachment from that nation, a senior police official said, adding that there would be sufficient security to guarantee peaceful polling.

Jharkhand
Bebi Devi of the INDIA bloc and Yashoda Devi of the NDA are in a head-to-head matchup in Jharkhand’s Dumri.

Due to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s (JMM) assertion that the INDIA bloc would start its triumph trip from Dumri and the NDA’s exuding confidence that it is ready to wrest the seat from JMM, the seat has become as a prized one for both coalitions.

After former education minister and JMM MLA Jagarnath Mahto passed away in April, a by-election was required. Mahto has held the position since 2004.

Kerala
At the Puthuppally byelection in Kerala, the Congress and the ruling Left will square off against one another, with the opposition party in the state relying on “anti-incumbency” and the late Oommen Chandy’s legacy.

In an effort to capitalize on the compassion that has followed the passing of the former CM, Chandy’s son Chandy Oommen has been fielded by the Congress-led UDF opposition.

On the other side, the governing Left chose to support DYFI leader Jaick C. Thomas once again despite the fact that he had unsuccessfully run for the seat against the late Chandy in 2016 and 2021.

G Lijinlal, the BJP’s district president for Kottayam, is running.

Uttarakhand
In Uttarakhand, the BJP and the Congress are facing off head-to-head. In an effort to hold onto the seat, the governing BJP has put Parvati Das on the ballot. Since 2007, her husband Chandan Das has won it in four straight elections, making the byelection necessary.

Das was campaigned for by the chief minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, and other prominent BJP members.

Heavyweights from the Congress, including Harish Rawat, Karan Mahara, the president of the PCC, and Yashpal Arya, the leader of the opposition in the state legislature, had also camped out in Bageshwar over the previous three days to support Basant Kumar, the party candidate.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the opposition coalition created to challenge the BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, announced its formation in July.