Campaign ends for high-stakes bypolls in three States, one U.T.

The campaign for the byelections to five Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, as well as to one Lok Sabha constituency in Assam, ended at 5 pm on Sunday (October 4, 2026). Polling will take place on Tuesday (October 6, 2026), and the counting of votes is scheduled for Friday (October 9, 2026).

In Assam's Nagaon, where the Lok Sabha byelection will be held, the fight is expected to be between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). The Muslim-majority parliamentary constituency has about 19.07 lakh voters, who can choose from among 15 candidates, including nine independents.

The top three contenders are former bureaucrat Devasish Sharma of the BJP, former MLA Sibamoni Bora of the Congress, and Mohammed Badruddin Ajmal, an MLA and the chief of the AIUDF. The bypoll became necessary after Pradyut Bordoloi, who won the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat for the second successive time in 2024, quit the Congress and joined the BJP before the April 2026 Assembly election. He contested and won the Dispur Assembly seat.

The Nagaon byelection campaign was marked by high-voltage rallies, road shows, sharp political exchanges, allusions to food habits and clashes, mostly between BJP and Congress supporters.

Stormy run-up

In West Bengal, bypolls will be held in the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly constituencies.

In the high-profile Nandigram constituency, the election was necessitated after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari won two seats in the State elections earlier this year and decided to vacate this one. He had defeated former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur constituency and decided to retain that seat. The Rejinagar seat was vacated by former Minister and Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) leader Humayun Kabir, who had also won Nowda.

The campaign in Nandigram was full of controversies, with Mamata Trinamool Congress candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrawing from the contest after meeting Mr. Adhikari, Ms. Banerjee subsequently deciding to support Congress nominee Milan Pradhan, and the latter then being arrested in connection with a 2007 anti-land acquisition agitation. Mr. Pradhan was granted bail by the Calcutta High Court on September 28, ten days after his arrest. The BJP candidate for the seat is Hasirai Rath. The Left Front and the Ritabrata Banerjee-led Democratic Trinamool Congress are also in the fray.

In Rejinagar, the BJP, Congress, the AJUP, as well as the two factions of the Trinamool Congress, are contesting.

Multi-cornered fight

In Tamil Nadu, the Assembly constituencies going to the polls are Madurantakam (SC) in Chengalpattu district and Dharapuram (SC) in Tiruppur.

The two Assembly segments were declared vacant following the resignation of Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama on May 25, 2026. They were elected on All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) tickets, but resigned within three weeks to join the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). The byelections feature a five-cornered contest, with the TVK-led Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Secular Progressive Alliance and the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance in the fray. The Left front is also contesting separately, while the Naam Tamilar Katchi is going it alone.

On the last day of the campaign, TVK president and Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay took out a roadshow in Dharapuram. The DMK also undertook an extensive campaign in both Assembly segments, with former Ministers camping and overseeing the poll work.

The Thattanchavady Assembly constituency in the Union Territory of Puducherry will also go to the polls on Tuesday. The seat fell vacant after Chief Minister and AINRC founder N. Rangasamy chose to vacate it and retain the Mangalam constituency, which he also won in the April 2026 Assembly polls. Thattanchavady is also bracing for a multi-cornered fight, with the Congress, DMK, AINRC, and the CPI entering the fray.