Bypolls in 12 states: All you need to know

Twelve states would have by-elections on April 9 and April 12 respectively and counting of votes will be held on April 13 and April 15.

It is a mini general election of sorts. Twelve states would have by-elections on April 9 and April 12 respectively and counting of votes will be held on April 13 and April 15. Bypolls will be held in three parliamentary and twelve assembly constituencies.

The states that would go to poll are Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Sikkim.

Here is all you need to know about April 9 and April 12 bypolls.

Delhi: Bypoll will be held in Rajouri Garden Assembly constituency. Congress candidate Meenakshi Chandela is pitted against SAD-BJP's Manjinder Singh Sirsa and AAP's Harjeet Singh in a three-cornered contest on the seat.

The seat fell vacant early this year after AAP's Jarnail Singh quit as MLA to contest Punjab Assembly poll against SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal which he lost.

Other candidates who are also in the fray are: Hardeep Singh (Independent), Lalit Taak (All India Forward Bloc) and Devinder Singh Nagi (Purvanchal Mahapanchayat).

Karnataka: Bypolls will be held in Nanjangud (SC) and Gundlupet legislative assembly segments in southern Karnataka.

The by-poll for Nanjangud (Reserved) in Mysuru district has been necessitated following the resignation of former Congress lawmaker and Revenue Minister Srinivasa Prasad who is re-contesting on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.

The ruling Congress has fielded K. Keshavamurthy who lost to Prasad in the 2013 assembly elections as a Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) nominee.

The by-poll for Gundlupet in the adjacent Chamarajanagar district is being held due to the death of Congress lawmaker and Cooperation Minister H.S. Mahadeva Prasad on January 2. The ruling party has fielded his widow Geetha as against C.S. Niranjan Kumar of the opposition BJP.

Gundlupet has 1,95,293 electorate and 250 polling booths while Nanjangud 1,91,594 voters and 236 polling stations.

Tamil Nadu: Bypoll will be held in Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly seat in June. Bypoll was necessitated due to former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's death.

Sasikala Natarajan's 54-year-old nephew TTV Dinakaran will face E Madhusudhanan from O Panneerselvam's camp. Madhusudhanan is contesting using the 'Electric Pole' symbol under party name 'AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma'.

DMK has fielded 42-year-old Marudhu Ganesh as its party's candidate. As many as 62 candidates including eight women are in the poll fray.

Kerala: Bypoll will be held in Malappuram Lok Sabha seat on April 12. Bye-election here was necessitated following the demise of former Union Minister E Ahamed.

BJP has fielded N Sreeprakash against Congress-led UDF candidate P K Kunhalikutty and CPI(M)- LDF candidate MB Faizal.

Jammu and Kashmir: Bypollswill be held in Srinagar and Anantnag parliamentary constituencies on April 9 and May 25 respectively.

Opposition National Conference president Farooq Abdullah is among nine candidates in the fray for the polls to be held on Sunday. Abdullah will face a virtual direct contest with ruling PDP's Nazir Ahmad Khan.

The bypoll in Srinagar was necessitated by the resignation of then PDP leader Tariq Hameed Karra from the Lok Sabha in September last year. 11.72 lakh voters will exercise their franchise at 1500 polling stations.

Anantnag seat fell vacant in June last after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti won the assembly polls and resigned from the Lok Sabha.

West Bengal: Bypoll will be held in Kanthi Dakshin (Contai South) assembly seat of East Midnapore district on April 9. The by-election is being held after sitting MLA Dibyendu Adhikari's election to Lok Sabha from Tamluk seat.

Apart from TMC, Congress, BJP and Left Front-supported CPI candidate, a SUCI(C) candidate is also in fray. The TMC has named former state minister Chandrima Bhattacharya as a contesting candidate.

Rajasthan: Bypoll will be held in Dholpur assembly seat. The bye-election was necessitated after the seat fell vacant on termination of the membership of B L Kushwahafollowing conviction and life imprisonment in a murder case in December last year.

The BJP has fielded Kushwah's wife Shobha Rani while the Congress candidate is veteran leader and five-time MLA Banwari Lal Sharma. The Samajwadi Party has fielded Banvari Sharma.

As many as 15 candidates, including 12 independents, are in the fray for the bypoll. 1.92 lakh voters will exercise their franchise at 231 polling stations.

Madhya Pradesh: Bypolls will be held in Bandhavgarh (ST) and Ater Assembly constituency.

In Ater, the by-election is necessitated following the death of Congress leader Satyadev Katare while the Bandhavgarh seat in Umari district fell vacant as incumbent MLA Gyan Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha in November last year.

The principal fight in Ater is between Congress' Hemant Katare, son of Satyadev Katare, and BJP's Arvind Singh Bhadoria, while the combat in Bandhavgarh seat is between Shivnarayan Singh of BJP and Savitri Singh of Congress.

Himachal Pradesh: Bypoll will be held in Bhoranj (SC) assembly constituency.

Five candidates including Anil Dhiman (BJP), Promila Devi (Congress) , Pavan Chandel, Ramesh Dogra and Kusum Azad (all independents) are in the fray while Chander and Dogra are BJP and Congress rebels but it is virtually a straight contest between the BJP and Congress.

The seat was vacated due to death of veteran BJP leader Ishwar Dass Dhiman, whose son Anil Dhiman is the BJP candidate.

Total voters- 75,719 [37,514 males and 38,205 females]

Jharkhand: Bypoll will be held in Littupara assembly constituency. The seat fell vacant after JMM legislator Anil Murmu passed away in January.

The BJP has fielded former JMM strongman and former Cabinet Minister Hemlal Murmu while the JMM has once again backed its old warrior Simon Marandi.

Assam: Bypoll will be held in Dhemaji assembly constituency on April 9. Dhemaji by-election was necessitated as the sitting BJP MLA Pradan Baruah vacated the seat after he won the bypoll to the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat which was vacated by Sarbananda Sonowal.

BJP has fielded 55-year-old Ranoj Pegu while Congress has fielded Babul Sonowal, against him.

Sikkim: Bypoll will be held in Upper Burtuk assembly constituency on April 12 and result will be announced on April 15.

Seven candidates are in the poll fray including BJP's Suresh Khanal Sharma and Congress party's Sumitra Rai.

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