National: Congress announced the candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls in Nanded and Gambegre ST respectively on Thursday (October 17).

The party has fielded Ravindra Vasantrao Chavan from Nanded in the parliamentary bypoll and Jingjang M Marak from Gambegre ST in the Assembly bypoll.

ECI announces bypolls

The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced bypolls for 48 Assembly constituencies and two Parliamentary seats on October 15, set to occur in two phases alongside the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections. Voting for the first phase, covering 47 Assembly constituencies and the Wayanad parliamentary seat in Kerala, will take place on November 13. The second phase will occur on November 20 for the Kedarnath Assembly constituency in Uttarakhand and the Nanded parliamentary seat in Maharashtra. Results will be counted and announced on November 23.

The Wayanad seat became vacant when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi chose to retain his Rae Bareli seat after winning both in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Nanded seat was lying vacant following the death of Congress MP Vasantrao Balwantrao Chavan in August.

In Uttar Pradesh, bypolls are scheduled for nine Assembly seats, including Katehari, Ghaziabad, Phulpur and Karhal, with eight seats opening due to MLAs being elected as MPs. Akhilesh Yadav, Zia Ur Rehman, Chandan Chauhan, Atul Garg, Anoop Singh alias Anoop Pradhan Balmiki, Praveen Patel, Dr Vinod Kumar Bind and Lalji Verma were elected to the Lok Sabha. The opposition, particularly the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP), sees these bypolls as a crucial opportunity to build on its previous Lok Sabha successes, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under the leadership of CM Yogi Adityanath, aims to maintain its foothold ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

Seven seats in Rajasthan, six seats in West Bengal, five seats in Assam, four seats each in Bihar and Punjab, three seats in Karnataka, two seats each in Kerala, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh, one seat each in Meghalaya, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh will vote on November 13. The Kedarnath Assembly seat in Uttarakhand will vote on November 23.