Bypolls in seven assembly seats: All eyes on Sena factions in Andheri East

The assembly bypolls in Bihar and Maharashtra scheduled for November 3 are set to be the first electoral test of the popularity of the respective state governments after a change in the political alignmentThe BJP and Uddhav Thackerays Shiv Sena are pitted against each other for the Andheri East assembly seat the first test of a popular mandate after Eknath Shinde led a rebellion within the Shiv Sena to topple the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government in the stateShinde succeeded Thackeray as Maharashtra Chief Minister after getting support of 40 of the Shiv Senas 55 MLAsThe BJP has fielded Murji Patel against Thackeray faction candidate Rutuja Latke in the bypoll that has seen opposition parties Congress NCP and the Left ndash joining hands against the BJPAlso read Andheri bypoll Will Muslim voters support Uddhavled factions candidateThe bypoll was necessitated due to the death of sitting Sena MLA Ramesh LatkeIn Bihar the assembly bypolls of Mokama and Gopalganj are the first electoral test for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who dumped the prepoll alliance partner BJP to form the government again with support from Lalu Prasadled RJD The Mokama seat fell vacant after the disqualification of sitting RJD MLA and local strongman Anant Singh due to a conviction in a criminal case while the Gopalganj elections were necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MLA Subhash SinghIn Mokama the RJD has fielded Anant Singhs wife Neelam Devi while the BJP has given the party ticket to Sonam Devi the wife of another strongman Lallan SinghIn Gopalganj the BJP has fielded Kusum Devi the widow of Subhash Singh against Mohan Gupta of the RJD and Indira Yadav of the BSP Indira Yadav is the wife of Sadhu Yadav the brotherinlaw of RJD founder Lalu PrasadIn Telangana the BJPs spirited campaign against Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao will be put to test in the Munogode assembly bypoll which was necessitated due to the resignation of Congress MLA K Rajagopal Reddy Rajagopal Reddy is in the fray as the BJP candidate and is pitted against TRS candidate K Prabhakar Reddy and Congress nominee Palavai Sravanthi ReddyThe BJP has been eyeing Telangana as the second southern state to expand its footprint after Karnataka and the bypoll is being held just over an year before the assembly elections due in the stateIn Uttar Pradesh the bypoll for the Gola Gokarnnath assembly seat is a direct contest between the BJP and the SPThe bypoll to fill the vacancy caused by the death of sitting BJP MLA Arvind Giri is being held in the aftermath of the death of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh YadavAlso readThe BJP has fielded Giris son Aman against Vinay Tiwari of the SP The BSP and Congress have not fielded any candidateThe Adampur bypoll in Haryana has emerged as a contest among party hoppersThe bypoll was necessitated due to the resignation of sitting Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi who joined the BJP Bishnois son Bhavya is the BJP candidate and Congress has fielded Jai Prakash who began his political career with the Lok Dal and served as a minister in Prime Minister Chandrashekhars council of ministersHe later switched to Bansi Lals Haryana Vikas Party which sent him to the Lok Sabha Jai Prakash founded his own outfit Haryana Gana Parishad and joined the Congress in 2000 only to quit in 2014 and contest the elections as an Independent He returned to the Congress fold in 2019AAP candidate Satender Singh was earlier with the BJP while INLD nominee Kurda Ram Nambardar quit the Congress earlier this weekIn Odisha the Dhamnagar Assembly seat is witnessing a triangular contest with Suryavanshi Suraj Sthitaprajna of the BJP Abanti Das of the BJD and Harekrushna Sethi of the Congress in the frayThe seat fell vacant due to the death of BJP MLA Bishnu Sethi and his son Suryavanshi is in the fray on the BJP ticketThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever