New Delhi: Counting of votes began at 8 am on Friday for six bypolls across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Assam, with the first trends expected through the morning and final results due progressively during the day.
The contests cover five Assembly seats — Nandigram and Rejinagar in West Bengal, Madurantakam and Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu, and Thattanchavady in Puducherry — along with the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency in Assam. Voting was held on October 6.
How the day is unfolding
Postal ballots were taken up first from 8 am, followed by electronic voting machines from 8:30 am, in line with the Election Commission's standard procedure. In Puducherry, counting for Thattanchavady is being held at the Motilal Nehru Government Polytechnic in Lawspet.
What is at stake
In West Bengal, Nandigram is the most closely watched contest. The BJP has fielded Hasirani Rath, the mother of Chandranath Rath, a former aide of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari who was killed in May. She faces Congress candidate Milan Pradhan, a rival TMC faction's Mohammad Eteshamul Haque and the CPI's Santigopal Giri. Nandigram fell vacant after Adhikari gave it up to retain Bhabanipur, where he had defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee. In Rejinagar, the field includes AJUP's Golam Nabi Azad, the BJP's Sakharav Sarkar, TMC's Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, rival TMC candidate Safiuzzaman Sheikh, Congress's Mohammad Abdullahil Kafi and CPI(M)'s Syed Asad Ali. Both Bengal seats recorded roughly 80 per cent turnout, though the Congress has demanded repolling there, alleging voter intimidation after AJUP founder Humayun Kabir was detained.
In Tamil Nadu, Madurantakam and Dharapuram — both reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates — were necessitated by the resignations of AIADMK MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama, who later joined the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. Both have been re-nominated from their seats, while the DMK and AIADMK are also in the fray. The seats recorded turnouts of 86.26 per cent and 80.30 per cent respectively.
Thattanchavady was vacated by Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy, who won both Thattanchavady and Mangalam and chose to retain the latter. The seat polled 80.81 per cent.
In Assam, the Nagaon Lok Sabha contest — with about 76 per cent turnout among 19.05 lakh electors — pits the BJP's Devasish Sharma against Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora and AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal. The seat fell vacant after Pradyut Bordoloi, who won it on a Congress ticket in 2024, joined the BJP and won the Dispur Assembly seat.
Sources:
By-Election Results 2026 LIVE — NDTV
By-Election Results 2026 Live Updates — Financial Express
The contests cover five Assembly seats — Nandigram and Rejinagar in West Bengal, Madurantakam and Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu, and Thattanchavady in Puducherry — along with the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency in Assam. Voting was held on October 6.
How the day is unfolding
Postal ballots were taken up first from 8 am, followed by electronic voting machines from 8:30 am, in line with the Election Commission's standard procedure. In Puducherry, counting for Thattanchavady is being held at the Motilal Nehru Government Polytechnic in Lawspet.
What is at stake
In West Bengal, Nandigram is the most closely watched contest. The BJP has fielded Hasirani Rath, the mother of Chandranath Rath, a former aide of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari who was killed in May. She faces Congress candidate Milan Pradhan, a rival TMC faction's Mohammad Eteshamul Haque and the CPI's Santigopal Giri. Nandigram fell vacant after Adhikari gave it up to retain Bhabanipur, where he had defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee. In Rejinagar, the field includes AJUP's Golam Nabi Azad, the BJP's Sakharav Sarkar, TMC's Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, rival TMC candidate Safiuzzaman Sheikh, Congress's Mohammad Abdullahil Kafi and CPI(M)'s Syed Asad Ali. Both Bengal seats recorded roughly 80 per cent turnout, though the Congress has demanded repolling there, alleging voter intimidation after AJUP founder Humayun Kabir was detained.
In Tamil Nadu, Madurantakam and Dharapuram — both reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates — were necessitated by the resignations of AIADMK MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama, who later joined the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. Both have been re-nominated from their seats, while the DMK and AIADMK are also in the fray. The seats recorded turnouts of 86.26 per cent and 80.30 per cent respectively.
Thattanchavady was vacated by Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy, who won both Thattanchavady and Mangalam and chose to retain the latter. The seat polled 80.81 per cent.
In Assam, the Nagaon Lok Sabha contest — with about 76 per cent turnout among 19.05 lakh electors — pits the BJP's Devasish Sharma against Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora and AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal. The seat fell vacant after Pradyut Bordoloi, who won it on a Congress ticket in 2024, joined the BJP and won the Dispur Assembly seat.
Sources:
By-Election Results 2026 LIVE — NDTV
By-Election Results 2026 Live Updates — Financial Express
