By-elections 2022: Bypolls to one Lok Sabha, four Assembly seats in four states today

Polling for the by-election to one Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal’s Asansol and four assembly seats in Ballygunge in Bengal, Khairagarh in Chhattisgarh, Bochahan in Bihar and Kolhapur North in Maharashtra began at 7 am today. 

Here are the state-wise updates on the bypolls:

West Bengal  

In Asansol, the by-elections were necessitated as Babul Supriyo resigned as the MP of Asansol after switching over to the TMC from the BJP, while state minister Subrata Mukherjee, who represented Ballygunge, died last year.

The TMC has fielded yesteryear actor Shatrughan Sinha in Asansol, which has a substantial Hindi-speaking population. The BJP has nominated Asansol Dakshin MLA Agnimitra Paul. 

Mamata Banerjee’s party has fielded Supriyo in Ballygunge where he is pitted against BJP’s Keya Ghosh and CPI(M)’s Saira Shah Halim. The Congress is also in the fray in both the seats.

Bihar

In the by-election to the Bochahan assembly seat in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district, a total of 2.90 lakh voters will decide the fates of 13 candidates, three of them women. 

By-poll to the seat was necessitated by the death of MLA Musafir Paswan, who had won on the ticket of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) of Bollywood set designer-turned-politician Mukesh Sahani.

Sahani, who initially wanted to field the deceased MLA’s son Amar, recently lost his ministerial berth, and subsequently the trust of his prospective candidate. Amar jumped ship and is now in the fray as the candidate of the RJD, which his father had defeated to win the seat. 

Sahani has now fielded Gita Devi, whose father Ramai Ram was the RJD candidate in the 2020 assembly polls.

The BJP, the former benefactor of Sahani which now seeks to prove a point after having got his scalp, has fielded Baby Kumari who enjoys the image of a giant killer in the constituency. 

She had won the seat in 2015, contesting as an Independent, defeating Ramai Ram who had represented Bochahan multiple times and on tickets of various parties. 

Also in the fray are the Congress, which appears to have been dumped by the RJD for good, four Independents and candidates of lesser parties, including AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi.

For Sahani, who risks losing his legislative council seat in a few months, the hustings are an occasion to prove his own political mettle, away from the protective shadow of a bigger player.

For the BJP, a win will bring the assurance that the unceremonious expulsion of Sahani, its former protg who uses the nickname “son of Mallah”, has not resulted in a backlash from the OBCs.

The RJD, which showed unmistakable signs of resurgence but fell short of the finishing line in the assembly elections, will be banking on its own formidable support base. 

Chhattisgarh

For the bypoll in Khairagarh assembly constituency seats, the ruling Congress and opposition BJP are locked in a straight fight. A total of 10 candidates are in the fray.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of JCC (J) legislator and former MP Devvrat Singh last November.

The seat, which falls in the Rajnandgaon district, had witnessed a triangular contest in the 2018 assembly polls when the late Ajit Jogi-led JCC (J) had entered the poll arena. Khaiargarh was among the five seats won by the JCC in the 90-member state assembly.

However, political commentators feel this time the fight is virtually between the ruling Congress and opposition BJP as the JCC (J) has lost its appeal after the demise of Ajit Jogi in 2020.

Maharashtra

The Kolhapur North assembly segment fell vacant after the death of Congress’s Chandrakant Kadam in December 2021. Jadhav had defeated Shiv Sena’s Rajan Kshirsagar in the 2019 polls.

Congress has fielded Kadam’s wife Jayashree and BJP has fielded Satyajit Shivaji Kadam- nephew of party spokesperson Dhananjay Mahadik as its candidate. The results will be declared on April 16.