Bihar, UP, Maharashtra, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha bypoll 2022: By-polls to seven vacant assembly seats spread across six states will take place on Thursday. The by-elections will be held in two seats of Bihar – Mokama and Gopalganj, Andheri (East) of Maharashtra, Haryana’s Adampur, Munugode in Telangana, Gola Gokarannath in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in Odisha.

Polling in these states were necessitated after the ruling MLAs either died, or switched parties or were convicts in criminal cases.

The counting of votes will take place on November 6.

Also Read: Bihar byelection 2022: First big test for Mahagathbandhan as RJD, BJP square off in Mokama bypoll

Among the seven seats, the BJP and the Congress held two seats each, and one each by the Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Biju Janata Dal.

In Bihar, the assembly by-poll is set to be the first electoral test of the popularity of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. This is the first election that the CM will face after his party the Janata Dal (United) came out of the BJP to form an alliance with its former rival-turned-ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

While in the Andheri (East) constituency in Maharashtra, the by-poll was set to see a contest between the two Shiv Sena factions, as both the BJP in alliance with the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)-led by the former CM Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena were pitted against each other.

While the Uddhav faction has fielded Rutuja Latke, the widow of the sitting MLA Ramesh Latke from the Shiv Sena, the BJP had fielded former BMC corporator Murji Patel. However, the Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that the party has decided not to contest the by-poll keeping in mind the tradition in the state to not put up a candidate against the family member of a deceased MLA in a by-election.

Also Read: Andheri assembly bypolls: BJP withdraws candidate a day after Raj Thackeray urges Fadnavis not to field anyone against Uddhav-faction’s Rutuja Latke

Seven candidates will be fighting from the constituency.

In Telangana’s Munugode assembly constituency, the Election Commission has asked Telangana’s chief electoral officer to keep a “close watch” through various enforcement agencies, amid allegations of attempts to lure voters, PTI reported.