Voting is underway for by-polls to the Bankipur Assembly seat in Bihar, Datia in Madhya Pradesh and Manjalpur in Gujarat, on Thursday (July 30) with polling beginning at designated booths across the three states. The counting of votes is scheduled for August 3, and all three contests have drawn close attention because of the political stakes attached to each seat.

The bypolls have become important political flashpoints for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, RJD and Jan Suraaj, with leaders on all sides projecting confidence. In Bankipur, the BJP has fielded Neeraj Kumar Sinha, while former Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) MP Nitish Kumar urged voters to support him for the sake of development. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, meanwhile, said, “We are clearly going to win the election.”

Bankipur sees high-stakes battle

Polling began at 7 am in Bankipur amid tight security arrangements, with around 3.80 lakh voters eligible to decide the fate of 26 candidates, including Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, who is making his electoral debut. The constituency, a long-time BJP stronghold, has remained with the party since 1995, when it was known as Patna West.

BJP leader Vivek Thakur cast his vote at the Bihar State Library polling station and expressed confidence in a decisive win. “In Bankipur, the Bharatiya Janata Party is moving towards a landslide victory,” he said, adding that the mood among voters was enthusiastic. Senior BJP leader CP Thakur also voted there with his family and echoed the same sentiment, saying, “Landslide victory.”

Prashant Kishor threatens action over alleged detention of Jan Suraaj workers

High drama unfolded late on Wednesday night at Jakkanpur police station after Jan Suraaj founder and Bankipur Assembly bypoll candidate Prashant Kishor arrived with a large group of supporters and confronted Station House Officer (SHO) Rituraj Kumar Singh over allegations that several party workers had been detained. Kishor alleged that two Jan Suraaj workers were brought to the police station illegally, held there for hours and then transferred elsewhere, while the police failed to give any information about their whereabouts.

“If any harm comes to them (party workers allegedly detained), Rituraj Kumar Singh, the SHO of Jakkanpur police station, will certainly lose his job. He should be well aware of that,” Kishor said, adding, “They aren’t providing any information; there is no record of it, and the officer claims he doesn’t even know where they were taken.”

He also said the SHO accepted no responsibility and did not know which superior officer had issued the order. “I am simply sharing the information I have with you,” Kishor said, as he faces off in the Bankipur contest against BJP’s Neeraj Kumar Sinha and JJD president Tej Pratap Yadav.

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Datia polling begins

In Datia, Madhya Pradesh, voting also started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. Officials said 2,20,344 voters are eligible to choose among 21 candidates at 291 polling stations, of which 186 are in rural areas and 105 in urban pockets. Collector and District Election Officer Swapnil Wankhede said, “Voting started peacefully and in an orderly manner at all polling stations at the scheduled time under the Datia assembly by-election 2026.”

The contest in Datia is a direct fight between the BJP’s Ashutosh Tiwari and the Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh, though Azad Samaj Party’s Damodar Singh Yadav is also in the race, making it potentially triangular. Security has been tightened, with police keeping a close watch on suspicious movement and a control room set up to respond to complaints immediately.

In Datia, the bypoll was necessitated after Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti was disqualified under the Representation of the People Act following a court sentence in a fraud case. In the 2023 Assembly election, Bharti had defeated then Home Minister Narottam Mishra, but the BJP has now chosen Ashutosh Tiwari instead of Mishra, a move that had earlier triggered protests from Mishra’s supporters.

Manjalpur joins the contest

Polling also underway in Gujarat’s Manjalpur where the seat fell vacant after the death of sitting BJP MLA Yogeshbhai Narandas Patel. Voting is being held at designated polling stations, and the contest is being watched closely as another key test for the ruling party. The Election Commission of India has earlier called for the by-poll to fill the seat for the remainder of the assembly’s term.