Nilambur (Kerala) [India], June 19: Voting commenced on Thursday morning for high-stakes assembly bye-elections in five constituencies across the country.
Polling began at 7 AM in Kerala’s Nilambur, Punjab’s Ludhiana West, West Bengal’s Kaliganj, and Gujarat’s Visavadar and Kadi constituencies. The counting of votes and announcement of results is scheduled for June 23.
In the Nilambur Assembly seat in Kerala, the contest is shaping up as a crucial political battle ahead of the 2026 state elections. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has nominated M Swaraj, the United Democratic Front (UDF) is fielding Aryadan Shoukath, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put forward Adv. Mohan George.
Calling the Nilambur by-election a “semi-final” before the next Assembly elections, Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader VD Satheesan expressed confidence in a UDF victory. “This is a direct contest between the UDF and LDF. A win here will mark the beginning of our return to power in 2026,” Satheesan told ANI.
In Punjab’s Ludhiana West constituency, the by-election was necessitated by the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi. The BJP has fielded Jiwan Gupta, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is represented by Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora.
In West Bengal’s Kaliganj constituency, the electoral contest includes Alifa Ahmed from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Ashish Ghosh from the BJP, and Kabil Uddin Shaikh from the Congress party.
In Gujarat, the Visavadar seat sees a three-way contest among BJP’s Kirit Patel, Congress’s Nitin Ranpariya, and AAP’s Gopal Italia, the party’s former state president.
For the Kadi constituency, the BJP has named Rajendra Chavda, while Congress has fielded Ramesh Chavda, a former MLA who won the seat in 2012. AAP’s candidate is Jagdish Chavda.
The bye-elections are expected to be an indicator of public sentiment ahead of upcoming full-term state assembly elections in various regions.