Counting of votes for the by-election held in October to three Lok Sabha seats and 29 assembly seats in 13 states and Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli in the country has started from 8 am on Tuesday. Assembly by-elections are for five seats in Assam, four in West Bengal, three each in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, two each in Bihar, Karnataka and Rajasthan and one seat each in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram and Telangana.
In West Bengal, TMC leader Udayan Guha is looking to win again from the Dinhata seat, which was snatched from him by the BJP in last April's election. The by-election was held after the resignation of Nisith Pramanik, who is now the Union Minister of State for Home, as he decided to retain his Lok Sabha membership. The Dinhata and Shantipur bypolls are being seen as a prestige battle for the BJP, which is currently battling with the resignation of MLAs and senior leaders. BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar had resigned from the Shantipur assembly seat.
Counting of votes is going on today after the by-elections in Tarapur and Kusheshwar Sthan assembly constituencies of Bihar on Saturday. Polling was held on October 30 for the by-elections in the Tarapur and Kusheshwar Sthan assembly constituencies of Bihar on Saturday. According to the data of the state election body, 20.25 per cent of polling was recorded in Kusheshwar place while 23 per cent in Tarapur. The by-elections are being held in both these seats due to the death of the MLAs of the JDU led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Due to the death of MLAs from both seats, the need for the by-election was necessitated. Both of them were from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's party JDU. Congress has fielded its own candidates. Apart from this, Chirag Paswan, who is leading a faction of Lok Janshakti Party, wants to prove his hold on Tarapur as well as Kusheshwar Sthan seat falling in his Jamui Lok Sabha constituency.