Five Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, and one Lok Sabha seat in Assam are heading for byelections. The byelections were necessitated following the resignations of elected legislators across the three States and the Union Territory for various reasons. Here’s all you need to know about the upcoming bypolls:

When are the elections happening?

The election for all the six seats will be held on October 6, 2026. The nomination process closed on September 16 and the election process is to be completed by October 11. 

When will the results be declared?

The counting of votes will be held on October 9. 

Which are the seats heading for bypolls?

Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies in Tamil Nadu, Thattanchavady constituency in Puducherry, Rejinagar and Nandigram constituencies in West Bengal head to the bypolls on Tuesday, along with the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency in Assam.

Why are the bypolls being held?

In Tamil Nadu, vacancies arose in Madurantakam and Dharapuram following the resignations of Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama, respectively.

In Puducherry, the Thattanchavady constituency opened up after the resignation of Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, who retained the Mangalam constituency.

In Rejinagar and Nandigram in West Bengal, it is due to the resignations of Humayun Kabir and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, respectively.

In Assam, the bypoll will be held in the Nagaon Parliamentary Constituency following the resignation of Pradyut Bordoloi.

Who are the key candidates?

Tamil Nadu

Dharapuram

• TVK candidate P. Sathyabama

• AIADMK candidate K. Bhanumathi

• NTK candidate M. Karthika

• DMK candidate S. Suganya 

• Communist Party of India candidate P. Lakshmanan

Madurantakam

• DMK candidate, I. Paranthamen

• AIADMK candidate Kanitha Sampath

• CPI(M) candidate P. Suganthi

• TVK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel 

• Naam Tamilar Katchi candidate Janakiraman 

Puducherry’s Thattanchavady

• AINRC candidate (backed by BJP and AIADMK) Ashok Anand

• Congress candidate E. Vinayagam

• DMK candidate K. Sethu Selvam

• CPI candidate A.M. Saleem

Assam’s Nagaon

• AIUDF candidate Badruddin Ajmal 

• Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora 

• BJP’s Devasish Sharma 

• Trinamool Congress candidate Abdul Salam

West Bengal

Nandigram

• BJP candidate Hasirani Rath

• Congress candidate Milan Pradhan 

• Communist Party of India candidate Shanti Gopal Giri

Rejinagar

• AJUP candidate Golam Nabi Azad

• Trinamool Congress candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury

• Congress candidate Abdullahil Kafi 

• Democratic TMC candidate Safiuzzaman S.K.

• CPI(M) candidate Saeed Asad Ali

• BJP candidate Sakharav Sarkar