n The by-elections  slated for November 3 in six Assembly seats in six States would include “three political turncoats” in Haryana and Telangana and  would test the hold of the ruling parties vis-à-vis the ‘rising Opposition’ in the respective states.

Four bypolls have been caused by the death of the sitting MLAs and in as many segments tickets are allotted to the close relatives of the deceased MLAs.

The bypoll in Andheri East in Maharashtra,  which was set to be a litmus test of influence between  Udhav Thackery’s Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the BJP- Eknath Shinde (Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena) faction is now a settled affair in favour of the former with the BJP withdrawing its nominee.

The six bypolls would be held in Mokama and Gopalganj (Bihar); Adampur (Haryana); Munogode (Telangana); Gola Gokarannath (UP) and Dhamnagar (Odisha). In the two Assembly constituencies of Haryana and Telangana, bypolls are being held as the elected MLAs had  defected to the other parties. Notorious for defections, Haryana’s Adampur is a clear representation of the old ‘Aya ram, Gaya ram’ mantra of  the jat state.

In Adampur constituency, the byelection  was necessitated due to the resignation of former MLA Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi, who had won the seat by contesting from his own party Haryana Janhit Congress.

He joined the BJP in August, after being expelled from the Congress for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls held that month. He had joined the Congress in 2017.

Another turncoat in the fray from Adampur is the AAP candidate  Satender Singh, who joined the party last month from the BJP. Singh has earlier had an innings with the Congress too from 1996 to 1997.  Another defection-forced bypoll  is taking place in Telangana’s Munugode assembly seat which is emerging  to be a prestigious triangular contest between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi , rival Congress, which had won the seat in 2018, and its MLA K. Rajagopal Reddy, who resigned from the party and is now in the race as the BJP candidate.

 It is set to be a fiery testing contest with assembly elections due in about a year’s time in Telangana.

The Mokama bypoll in Bihar was  necessitated after its sitting Rashtriya Janata Dal  MLA and strongman Anant Kumar Singh was disqualified in July this year by the Bihar Vidhan Sabha following his conviction in a case related to the recovery of arms including an AK-47 assault rifle, from his residence in 2019.

RJD has put up his wife Neelam Devi. She will contest against BJP’s Sonam Devi, the wife of another strongman Lalan Singh. Another  byeelection in Bihar’s Gopalganj has been necessitated following the demise of sitting BJP MLA and former minister Subhash Prasad Singh this year.

His wife Kusum Devi as the BJP nominee will contest against the RJD candidate Mohan Prasad Gupta. In Odisha’s Dhamnagar assembly constituency too the byeelection has been caused by the death of  the sitting BJP MLA whose son Suryabanshi Suraj will be pitted against the BJD nominee. 

The third bypoll  to be caused by the death of a sitting MLA is from Gokarannath seat in UP and again a member of the family of the late MLA being has been given ticket to contest by the BJP.

The BJP has announced 26-year-old- Aman Giri as its candidate for the bypoll from  Gola Gokarannath Assembly seat following death of his father, Arvind Giri, after a cardiac arrest last month. Aman will be pitted against former MLA Vinay Tiwari, 52, the Samajwadi Party  candidate, in bypoll slated for November 3.