By-Elections in 18 states to be held on Oct 21, counting on Oct 24

The bypolls in 63 assembly seats in 18 states and one Lok Sabha seat in Bihar will be held on October 21, the Election Commission said on Satueday.

The results will be announced on October 24 along with the Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.

The by-elections will be held in Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora told the media.

Issue of notification: Sept 23

Last date for filing nominations: Sept 30

Date for scrutiny of nominations: October 1

Last date for withdrawal of candidature: Oct 3

Date of polling: Oct 21

Date of counting: Oct 24

Date before which election shall be completed: Oct 27

In Karnataka, where disqualification of 17 rebel MLAs led to collapse of HD Kumaraswamy government in July, bypolls will be held in 15 seats.

In August, the Aam Aadmi Party had said that it would contest the bypolls to four assembly seats in Punjab.  The core committee of the state unit of the party unanimously decided to fight the byelections.

Phagwara and Jalalabad seats had fallen vacant after sitting MLAs Som Parkash and Sukhbir Badal were elected to the Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur and Ferozepur, respectively. 

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