news desk – The Election Commission has announced the schedule of by-elections to be held on five assembly and one Lok Sabha seats of the country. Voting for these six vacant seats in three states and one union territory will be held on October 6, 2026, while the counting of votes will be conducted on October 9.
The posts on all these seats had become vacant after the resignation of the elected representatives. The Election Commission on Monday gave information about the complete process and dates of the by-elections.
Nomination process will start from September 9
The nomination process for the by-election will start from September 9. Candidates will be able to file their nominations till 16 September.
Nomination papers will be scrutinized on September 17, while candidates will be able to withdraw their candidature till September 19. After this, voting will be held on 6th October and counting of votes will be done on 9th October.
Elections will be held on these 5 assembly seats
Two assembly seats of Tamil Nadu, two of West Bengal and one of Puducherry are included in the by-election.
- Maduranthakam, Tamil Nadu
- Dharapuram, Tamil Nadu
- Thattanchavady, Puducherry
- Rejinagar, West Bengal
- Nandigram, West Bengal
By-election on this Lok Sabha seat of Assam also
By-election will also be held on one Lok Sabha seat. Voting for Nagaon Lok Sabha seat of Assam will be held on 6 October.
This seat has become vacant after the resignation of MP Pradyut Bordoloi. At the same time, all five seats of the assembly also became vacant after the resignation of the respective MLAs.
In Tamil Nadu, the seats became vacant after the resignation of Maduranthakam MLA Maragatham Kumaravel and Dharapuram MLA P. Satyabhama.
In West Bengal, a by-election situation arose after the resignation of Humayun Kabir from Rezinagar and Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram. Thattanchavady seat MLA of Puducherry, N. Became vacant after resignation of Rangasamy.
Former Election Commissioner raised questions regarding SIR
Along with the announcement of by-elections, the ongoing debate regarding Special Intensive Revision of Voter List i.e. SIR is also in discussion. Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Qureshi has raised questions on this process of the Election Commission.
He criticized the process of deletion of large number of names from the voter list and also raised questions as to how the objective of identifying illegal immigrants is being achieved through SIR.
Qureshi took a dig at the Election Commission and said that the Commission deserves congratulations for completing the difficult task of removing names of about 14 to 15 crore people from the voter list.