On Thursday morning, voting began for Assembly by-elections in seven states: Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar, Telangana, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh.
The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with heavy security, and the results will be counted on November 6.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is competing in Assembly bypolls in seven constituencies across six states against regional parties such as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
The seven Assembly constituencies where the elections are taking place are 166-Andheri East from Maharashtra, 47-Adampur from Haryana, 93-Munugode from Telangana, 139-Gola Gokranath from Uttar Pradesh and 46-Dhamnagar from Odisha.
The two Bihar constituencies where bye-elections are being held are 178-Mokama and 101-Gopalganj.
Anant Kumar Singh of the Mokama Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was disqualified in July following his conviction in a case, while BJP's Subhash Singh, who held the Gopalganj seat, died in August.
The constituencies of Andheri East, Gola Gokrannath, and Dhamnagar also became vacant due to the death of their respective legislators. Ramesh Latke of the Shiv Sena died in May, and Arvind Giri and Bishnu Sethi of the BJP died in September.
The resignations of Kuldeep Bishnoi in Haryana and K Rajagopal Reddy in Telangana created openings in the Adampur and Munugode segments, respectively.
The election in Telangana's Munugode Assembly constituency is critical for all of the state's major parties, including the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress.
While 47 candidates are competing, the BJP's Raj Gopal Reddy, former TRS MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy, and the Congress' Palvai Sravanthi are the front-runners.
In Andheri East, the Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray has fielded Rutuja Latke, the wife of incumbent Sena MLA Ramesh Latke, whose death in May prompted the poll.
Murji Patel was nominated by the BJP, however he later withdrew his candidacy after the party chose not to run.
This would be the first election following the Shiv Sena revolt led by Eknath Shinde and 39 other legislators, which resulted in the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
The BJP has fielded Sonam Devi in the Mokama by-election against the RJD's Neelam Devi, whose husband Anant Singh's disqualification has caused the by-election.
Mokama is reported to be Anant Singh's stronghold since 2005. On JD(U) tickets, he won the seat twice.
The BJP has nominated Kusum Devi, the wife of current BJP MLA Subhash Singh, for the Goapalgunj by-election, while the RJD has nominated Mohan Prasad Gupta.
The Adampur seat in Haryana is being contested by the BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Bhavya Bishnoi, Kuldeep Bishnoi's son, is the BJP candidate in the bypoll.
The Congress has chosen former Union Minister Jai Prakash as their candidate, while the INLD has chosen Congress rebel Kurda Ram Nambardar. AAP's candidate is Satender Singh.
Kuldeep Bishnoi, the son of former Haryana Chief Minister Chaudhary Bhajan Lal, recently resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP. Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned, leaving Adampur's seat vacant. Bishnoi consider Adampur seat to be a stronghold.
Meanwhile, the AAP is attempting to gain a foothold in Haryana by contesting bypolls in Adampur, Panchayat, and Zila Parishad.
The BJP has fielded his son Aman Giri in the Gola Gokarannath assembly constituency, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) has awarded a ticket to former MLA Vinay Tiwari.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has fielded Abanti Das as its candidate for the Dhamnagar bypolls in Odisha, while the BJP has fielded Suryabanshi Suraj Sthitaprajana, the son of Bishnu Sethi, a BJP MLA whose death left the assembly seat empty, as its candidate.
The AAP is also competing and has handed Anwar Sheikh a ticket.
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