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Counting is underway for by-elections to five Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry, along with the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam. The counting began on October 9, 2026, under tight security arrangements.

 

The Bharatiya Janata Party is leading in both West Bengal constituencies of Nandigram and Rejinagar, while the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has taken the lead in Madurantakam and Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu. In Puducherry, the ruling All India NR Congress candidate Ashok Anand is ahead in Thattanchavady. BJP candidate Devashish Sharma is leading in Assam’s Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency.

West Bengal: BJP ahead in Nandigram and Rejinagar

In Nandigram, BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath is leading Congress nominee Milan Pradhan by 31,943 votes. In Rejinagar, BJP candidate Sankharav Sarkar has a lead of 20,257 votes over Aam Janata Unnayan Party candidate Golam Nabi Azad, also known as Robin.

 

Earlier in the counting, Rath had led by more than 19,000 votes after two rounds in Nandigram, while Sarkar was ahead by more than 30,000 votes in Rejinagar. During the first round in Rejinagar, Sarkar’s margin was 11,033 votes. Congress candidate Abdullahil Kafi had 581 votes, followed by Golam Nabi Azad with 446 votes at that stage.

 

The two West Bengal bypolls are being watched as an early electoral test for the BJP after it replaced the Trinamool Congress government following 15 years in power. Nearly 80% of the approximately 5.24 lakh voters in Nandigram and Rejinagar participated. Nandigram recorded 80.89% turnout, while Rejinagar recorded 80.08%.

Tamil Nadu: TVK leads in both seats

In Madurantakam, TVK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel led with 23,884 votes after the sixth round. DMK candidate I. Paranthamen had 15,724 votes, while AIADMK candidate S. Kanitha Sampath had 14,065 votes. CPM candidate G. Janaki Ram polled 766 votes and NTK candidate P. Suganthi received 925 votes.

 

In Dharapuram, TVK candidate P. Sathyabama was ahead with 24,047 votes after the ninth round. AIADMK candidate K. Bhanumathi had 21,935 votes, followed by DMK candidate S. Suganya with 19,972 votes. NTK candidate M. Karthika had 1,891 votes and CPI candidate P. Lakshmanan secured 442 votes.

 

The lead in Dharapuram changed during the early rounds. AIADMK’s Bhanumathi led by five votes in the first round, polling 2,639 votes against Sathyabama’s 2,634. Bhanumathi was also ahead after the second round with 5,573 votes, compared with 4,981 for Sathyabama and 4,016 for Suganya.

 

By the fifth round, Sathyabama had moved ahead with 13,213 votes, while Bhanumathi had 12,489 and Suganya 11,554. Sathyabama’s lead stood at 16,201 votes after the sixth round, against 14,807 for Bhanumathi and 13,797 for Suganya. In the seventh round, the TVK candidate had 18,690 votes, followed by Bhanumathi with 17,773 and Suganya with 15,988. The eighth-round figures were 21,034 for Sathyabama, 19,730 for Bhanumathi and 17,898 for Suganya.

 

The bypolls in Madurantakam and Dharapuram were held after the TVK came to power in May. They are being viewed as a measure of the new ruling party’s support, while the AIADMK is seeking to win back seats it lost to the TVK in the April Assembly elections.

 

Counting in Dharapuram was conducted at the LRG Government Arts and Science College in Tiruppur district, while the Madurantakam count was held at the Integrated Social Development Training Centre in Aathur, Chengalpattu district. Postal ballots were taken up first, followed by votes recorded through electronic voting machines, with a three-tier security arrangement in place.

 

Independent candidate Dr. G. Moorthy alleged that the EVM control unit at booth number 11 in Madurantakam had malfunctioned. He sought the production of the VVPAT machine, but said his written request was not acted upon. He also alleged that police and Central Armed Police Force personnel pushed him away when he attempted to speak to media representatives outside the counting centre.

 

The DMK had earlier approached the Election Commission of India seeking action against TVK candidate P. Sathyabama. It alleged that campaign expenditure had not been disclosed and that the Model Code of Conduct had been violated.

Puducherry: AINRC candidate maintains substantial lead

AINRC candidate Ashok Anand, who is backed by the BJP and AIADMK, is leading in the Thattanchavady Assembly bypoll. After the first round, Anand had secured 3,273 votes, compared with 1,222 for Congress candidate E. Vinayagam and 786 for DMK candidate Sethu Selvam.

 

Anand’s lead crossed 4,500 votes after the second round. In the fourth round, he was ahead by 10,467 votes, with Vinayagam at 3,693 votes. The margin later increased to 13,358 votes, while the Congress candidate had 4,876 votes. Party workers began celebrating at the AINRC headquarters as the lead continued.

Assam: BJP leads Nagaon Lok Sabha bypoll

BJP candidate Devashish Sharma is leading in the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency. His lead over AIUDF chief Mohammed Badruddin Ajmal stood at 63,701 votes in the latest update. Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora was in third place.

 

At an earlier stage, Sharma had polled 92,345 votes, against 48,927 for Ajmal and 12,982 for Bora, giving the BJP candidate a lead of more than 43,418 votes. The lead had earlier been recorded at 59,127 and 38,045 votes during successive rounds of counting.

 

About 76% of the approximately 19.05 lakh voters in Nagaon participated in the October 6 bypoll. The election was necessitated after Pradyut Bordoloi, who had won the seat for Congress for a second consecutive term in 2024, left the party and won the Dispur Assembly seat on a BJP ticket. Polling was largely peaceful, apart from a minor confrontation over alleged vote-switching at a booth in Juria.

Other developments linked to the bypolls

AJUP chief and Nowda MLA Humayun Kabir, who was arrested after a confrontation with police during polling in Rejinagar, had indicated on October 7 that he might retire from electoral politics. He had also claimed that the BJP would win the Muslim-majority constituency in Murshidabad district.

 

The Supreme Court on October 7 declined to interfere with the Calcutta High Court’s order granting interim bail to Congress candidate Milan Pradhan a day after polling in Nandigram. The Bench did not express a view on the merits of the cases against Pradhan and said the State could present its arguments before the appropriate court if he sought an extension of interim bail or regular bail.