Bypolls to three Lok Sabha seats and 30 assembly constituencies spread across various states will be held on October 30, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday. This inckudes three Parliamentary Constituencies of UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh and 30 Assembly constituencies of 14 States. The counting of votes will take place on November 2.
In the directive issued by the commission, situations related to pandemics, floods, festivals, cold conditions in certain regions, feedback from concerned States/UT are taken into consideration and the decision to hold bye-elections is taken. Assembly by-polls will be conducted for 5 seats in Assam (Gossaingaon, Bhabanipur, Tumulpur, Mariani and Thowra), 4 seats in West Bengal (Dinhata, Santipur, Khardaha and Gosaba-SC) and 3 seats each in Madhya Pradesh (Prithvipur, Raigaon and Jobat), Meghalaya (Mawryngkneng, Mawphlang and Rajabela), Himachal Pradesh (Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai). Besides, elections will also be held on two seats each in Bihar (Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur), Karnataka (Sindgi and Hangal) and Rajasthan (Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad). One seat each will go to polls in Telangana (Huzurabad), Nagaland (Shamtorr-Chessore-ST), Mizoram (Tuirial-ST), Maharashtra (Deglur-SC), Haryana (Ellenabad) and Andhra Pradesh (Badvel-SC).
The EC said that an adequate number of EVMs and VVPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the elections are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines. The Model Code of Conduct comes into effect immediately in the districts in which the whole or any part of the assembly constituency going for election is included. The EC has said that Covid protocols will be in place during the campaigning stage. No roadshow shall be allowed and no bike or cycle rallies will be allowed.
