Voting begins for by-elections to eight Assembly seats across six States, one Union Territory

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Voting begins for by-elections to eight Assembly seats across six States, one Union Territory

Story By #RiseCelestialStudios

Voting is under way in by-elections for eight seats across seven States on Tuesday (November 11, 2025), amid tight security arrangements. By-elections are being held in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam and Nagrota, Rajasthan’s Anta, Jharkhand’s Ghatshila, Telangana’s Jubilee Hills, Punjab’s Tarn Taran, Mizoram’s Dampa, and Odisha’s Nuapada constituencies.

Budgam, Jammu and Kashmir

The polling in being seen as a litmus test of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s government and his party the National Conference (NC).

The bypoll was necessitated after Mr. Abdullah vacated the seat following his election from the family bastion of Ganderbal as well in the last year’s Assembly polls. The polling began at 7 am at 173 polling stations across the constituency and was going on smoothly, the officials said. They said the voting would end at 6 pm.

The Budgam assembly constituency has around 1.26 lakh registered voters, and all arrangements, including a tight security cover, are in place to ensure smooth polling. Budgam has been a bastion of the NC with its candidates securing victory from the constituency since 1962, barring once in 1972 when the Congress candidate won from the seat.

NC Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, won from the Budgam seat in the 2002, 2008 and 2014 assembly polls, before Abdullah emerged victorious from here in 2024.

There are 17 candidates in the fray as Aga Syed Mehmood of ruling National Conference faces a stiff challenge from the PDP’s (People’s Democratic Party) Aga Muntazir.

Besides the two Shia candidates, other key candidates include the BJP’s Syed Mohsin, Awami Ittehad Party’s Nazir Ahmad Khan, Aam Aadmi Party’s Deeba Khan, and independent candidate Muntazir Mohiuddin.

Jubilee Hills, Telangana

Polling began on a brisk in the presence if a large posse of policemen for the Jubilee Hills Bypoll in Telangana as polling stations opened for voting at 7 a.m.

In the densely populated Yellareddyguda citizens queueed and waited for their turns to cast their ballots. At the Padala Rama Reddy Law College in Yellareddyguda which has seven polling stations people began reaching the spot from 6.30 a.m. onwards. The bypoll in the constituency no 61 of Telangana Legislative Assembly has been necessitated due to the death of Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLA Maganti Gopinath. The BRS has now fielded Maganti Sunitha while the Congress party has fielded Naveen Yadav with the All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen backing the Congress candidate.

Anta, Rajasthan

The seat fell vacant after the disqualification of sitting MLA (BJP) Kanwar Lal Meena following conviction in a criminal case. Two hundred and sixty-eight polling stations have been set up across the constituency. The polling will end at 6 pm.

A total of 2,28,264 voters, including 1,16,783 men, 1,11,477 women, are eligible to vote in the bypoll. A total of 15 candidates are contesting the bypoll. Former minister Pramod Jain Bhaya is contesting as Congress candidate while the BJP has fielded Morpal Suman.

At present, the ruling BJP has 118 out of the 200 Assembly seats. Congress has 66, Bharat Adivasi Party four, BSP two, RLD has one and one seat (Anta) is vacant.

Tarn Taran, Punjab

The Tarn Taran Assembly seat fell vacant following the death of Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal in June. The bypoll is set to witness a multi-cornered contest, a crucial fight before the 2027 Assembly elections in the State. Campaigning for the bypoll came to an end on Sunday evening.

There are 15 candidates in the fray .The number of eligible voters is 1,92,838 — 1,00,933 male, 91,897 female, and eight third-gender — in the constituency.

A total of 222 polling stations have been set up at 114 locations, of which 60 are urban and 162 are rural, including four ‘model’ and three ‘pink’ polling booths, officials said.

AAP has fielded Harmeet Singh Sandhu, a three-time MLA from Tarn Taran, who joined the ruling party in July this year.

The bypoll is seen as a litmus test for Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP leaders, who aggressively campaigned to retain this seat.

Stakes are also high for the Congress, which has fielded its Tarn Taran district unit chief Karanbir Singh Burj for the bypoll. An agriculturalist and real-estate businessman, Burj is contesting elections for the first time.

The BJP has named Harjit Singh Sandhu, the president of the party’s district unit, as its candidate for the bypoll.

The election is equally crucial for SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who, along with his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, aggressively campaigned for party candidate Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa, a retired government school principal and the wife of a ‘Dharmi Fauji’.

Nuapada, Odisha

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of BJD MLA Rajendra Dholakia on September 8. The BJP nominee is the son of the deceased. While polling will end at 5 p.m. in 311 booths, it will be concluded at 4 p.m. in 47 sensitive booths, including those in Left Wing Extremist-affected places.

Of the 14 contestants, the key candidates are the BJD’s Snehangini Chhuria, BJP’s Jay Dholakia, Congress’ Ghasiram Majhi, and Ramakanta Hati of the Samajwadi Party.

Ghatshila, Jharkhand

Bypoll in Ghatshila was necessitated after the death of JMM MLA Ramdas Soren. Over 2.56 lakh voters, including 1.31 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-election and will decide the electoral fate of 13 candidates.

The main contest is likely to be between Somesh Chandra Soren of the ruling JMM and the BJP’s Babulal Soren, son of former Chief Minister Champai Soren.