Bypoll for 11 assembly seats, 2 LS seats on Dec 4

New Delhi, Dec 3: The by-poll for eleven Assembly seats in ten states and two Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh will be held on Dec 4 in the backdrop of a grudge fight in Karimnagar parliamentary constituency and the TDP striving to maintain its hold over Bobbili.

While the Congress had fielded T Jeevan Reddy in Karimnagar, the TDP had fielded its former MP L Ramana. In Bobbili, however the fight is between the Congress and the TDP.

The Karimnagar bypoll was caused by the resignation of the Chief K Chandrasekhara Rao and the Bobbili by-poll by the death of Telugu Desam Party's sitting MP K Paidithalli Naidu.

The Chamundeshwari Assembly segment in Karnataka, where former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramiah is the Congress nominee, has turned highly prestigious in view with the unusually high pitch of campaign and high stakes waged by the ruling JD(S)-BJP combine and the Congress party.

The Kota Assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh will be an acid test for former chief minister Ajit Jogi's wife, Dr Renu, who will face her BJP rival Bhupendra Singh Thakur in the by-poll.

The Chamundeshwari by-poll was necessitated by resignation of former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who quit as JD(S) member and was now contesting as the Congress' official nominee whereas the by-election for Kota seat was necessitated following the death of Congress veteran Rajendra Prasad Shukla, who was the first speaker of Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly and former speaker of Vidhan Sabha of undivided Madhya Pradesh.

With heavyweights like Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her predecessor Ashok Gehlot pitching in to wrest the Dungarpur seat, the assembly segment has become a prestige contest, both for the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress.

The Rongjeng byelection in Meghalaya would be litmus test for the ruling Congress in Garo Hills against a backdrop of a tug-of-war between Chief Minister J D Rymbai and his predecessor D D Lapang and other party functionaries.

Meanwhile foolproof arrangements, including unprecedented security, have been made for the smooth conduct of bypoll in Thiruvambadi assembly constituency in Kerala and Manihari assembly constituency in Bihar.

Besides, Roing in Arunachal Pradesh, Pandhana in Madhya Pradesh, Daryapur and Chimur in Maharashtra and Islampur in West Bengal will also go for by-polls tomorrow.

Security in view of the bypolls have been tightened at all seats and several companies of para-military forces have been deployed for free and fair elections.

UNI