Campaigning for six crucial by-elections — five assembly seats and one Lok Sabha constituency across three states and a Union Territory — ended on Sunday, with parties making a final push in what has become a key mid-term test for ruling parties.
Voting will be held on October 6 in Nandigram and Rejinagar in West Bengal; Madurantakam and Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu; Thattanchavady in Puducherry; and the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency in Assam. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma , campaigning for former bureaucrat Devasish Sharma, said Nagaon was difficult for the BJP as Muslims form a majority of voters, but expressed confidence of a victory margin of 250,000–300,000 votes. The seat has become an 11-cornered contest between the ruling AINRC-backed combine and a united opposition.
In Assam’s Nagaon, the Lok Sabha seat fell vacant in March after Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi resigned from the party, joined the BJP and won Dispur in the April Assembly polls. The Nandigram seat fell vacant after chief minister Suvendu Adhikari retained Bhabanipur, where he defeated TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee , and vacated Nandigram. “We did not form an alliance with the Congress and CPI(M). Puducherry’s Thattanchavady was vacated by chief minister N Rangasamy, who retained Mangalam after winning both seats.
The opposition votes might get divided but the responsibility to protect the polling booths and the right of voters lies with all,” Ghosh said. The chief minister lashed out at “crude rhetoric” in the state’s political discourse and warned opposition parties against targeting women, referring to alleged controversial remarks by DMK president M K Stalin against Sathyabama. Vijay and party leaders described the criticism as “body-shaming”.
