20:44
The Election Commission on Monday announced bypolls to five assembly seats in three states including Nandigram, vacated by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari after he chose to retain Bhabanipur where he had defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Along with the five assembly seats across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, bypolls in Assam's Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency will also be held on October 6, while counting of votes will take place on October 9, according to the poll panel.
Nagaon seat was vacated by Pradyut Bordoloi, who had won from the constituency on a Congress ticket in 2024. He joined the BJP and won from Dispur in the recent assembly polls.
Adhikari, who led the BJP to its maiden government in West Bengal, contested and won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur in the April elections.
He defeated Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee in her Bhabanipur stronghold by 15,105 votes and subsequently chose to retain the Kolkata seat, resigning as the MLA from Nandigram. He had also defeated Banerjee in Nandigram in the 2021 assembly polls.
The other West Bengal seat headed for a bypoll is Rejinagar, which was vacated by Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) chief Humayun Kabir.
Kabir, a former Trinamool Congress leader who floated the AJUP after his expulsion from the party, won both Rejinagar and Naoda in the 2026 assembly elections. -- PTI
