Voting begins for assembly by-elections in five constituencies across the country

Nilambur: On Thursday, voting got underway in five seats nationwide for the crucial assembly bye-elections. Voting for the Nilambur seat in Kerala, the Visavadar and Kadi seats in Gujarat, the Kaliganj seat in West Bengal, and the Ludhiana West seat in Punjab started at 7 a.m. On June 23, the results will be announced.

M. Swaraj is the candidate of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), Aryadan Shoukath is the candidate of the United Democratic Front (UDF), and Adv is the candidate of the BJP. Mohan George is a contender for the seat in the Nilambur Assembly.

Earlier, Kerala LoP and Congress MLA VD Satheesan emphasized that the Nilambur by-election is the semi-final before the 2026 Assembly elections and that if they win, the United Democratic Front (UDF) would begin to retake the state.

“This is a political contest, a direct fight between the UDF and the LDF,” Satheesan told ANI. The 2026 Assembly elections are in the semi-final, and we are sure we will win by a huge majority. We view this as a chance to hold the Pinarayi administration, which has ruled for the last nine years, responsible.”

Jiwan Gupta is the BJP’s candidate for the Ludhiana seat in Punjab. The Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora was selected by the Aam Aadmi Party to fill the vacancy left by the passing of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi.

Alifa Ahmed, Ashish Ghosh, and Kabil Uddin Shaikh are the candidates put forth by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Congress, respectively, for the by-elections in West Bengal’s Kaliganj constituency.

The Congress has put forth Nitin Ranpariya, the BJP has put forward Kirit Patel, while the AAP has put forward Gopal Italia, the former president of Gujarat. Rajendra Chavda has been put up by the BJP for the Kadi seat.

The AAP has selected Jagdish Chavda, while the Congress has put forth Ramesh Chavda, a former MLA who was elected in 2012.