INDIA bloc v/s NDA strike once again, bypolls in 7 states on 10 July

13 constituencies get ready as bypolls will take place within 7 states in India on July 10. Counting of the votes for the result will be done on 13 July.

Eyes on West Bengal

The major chunk of attention is grabbed by West Bengal’s 4 seats of -Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin (SC), Bagda (SC) and Maniktala. Here, death of Sadhan Pandey from TMC in Maniktala as well as resignation of other three MLAs has necessitated the bypolls currently. The 3 out of 4 seat were in BJP’s hand in 2021 but were empty due to swap of parties. Bypolls in 7 states across India.

The other constituencies are Rupauli in Bihar; Badrinath and Manglaur in Uttarakhand; Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu; Jalandhar West in Punjab; and Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh; Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh.

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal had all independent candidates elected, from which the emienent seat of Dehra was won by Hoshyar Singh Chambyal. Later, the 3 seats’ MLAs resigned to join BJP leading to vacancy of seats. There is a high chance of Congress striking back in the Hills to continue the forehand in the state.

Tamil Nadu

The single seat was driven for bypolls due to demise of then MLA from DMK N Pughazenthi in April. PMK from NDA has put forth C Anbumani as a strategy to maximize Vanniyar community’s presence. The community has been a long time voter base for the party and plans to increase their participation in state affairs. PMK also constitues support of Annamalai as well as AMMK’s Dhinakaran.

Uttarakhand

Badrinath and Manglaur seats required bypolls due to resignation of then Congress MLA Ranjendra Bhandari to join BJP and demise of BSP MLA Sarwat Karin Ansari respectively. A major drawback for BJP is the fact that the party has never won the Manglaur seat since the reorganisation of the state in India. Congress choosing senior party leader Qazi Nizamuddin for the same seat as the candidate has won three times earlier from the same constituency.

Jalandhar West

The sitting Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sheetal Angural defected to join BJP which lead to the bypolls in the constituency. She is now contesting as a BJP candidate. Sheetal will have AAP’s Mohinder Bhagat against her. Congress has put forth councillor Surinder Kaur to survive in the bypolls and regain a stable momentum in the state re-elections.