Uttarakhand: Voting is currently in progress for the by-election in the Bageshwar assembly constituency of Uttarakhand. The voting process commenced at 7 am on Tuesday. Although there are five candidates in the running, the primary competition appears to be between Parvati Das of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Basant Kumar of the Congress party.

The by-election in the Bageshwar Assembly seat was necessitated by the unfortunate passing of Parvati Das's husband, Chandan Ram Das, who represented the constituency. Kumar was previously the Vice President of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state unit but resigned from AAP to join the Congress Party. Notably, Parvati's husband had been a formidable candidate in the Bageshwar seat, having won four consecutive elections from the same constituency since 2007.

In addition to the BJP and Congress, other candidates in the fray include Bhagvati Prasad from the Samajwadi Party, Arjun Kumar Dev from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, and Bhawant Kholi from the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party.

Campaigning for the seat concluded on Sunday night, with leaders from both parties conducting numerous road shows, meetings, and door-to-door campaigns to garner voter support.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed confidence in winning the by-election for the Bageshwar assembly seat on Sunday.

Apart from Uttarakhand, by-elections are also taking place in five other states for six assembly seats, including Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal, and Jharkhand. This marks the first electoral contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), representing the opposition bloc.

Bageshwar Constituency Bypoll Set for September 5