New Delhi:
By-Election Results 2026 Live News Updates: Counting of votes began in seven seats in Karnataka, Nagaland, Gujarat and Maharashtra, where bypolls were held last month following the deaths of sitting MLAs. The bypoll in Goa’s Ponda constituency was declared “null and void” by the Bombay High Court.
The seven constituencies where results will be declared are Bagalkot and Davnagere South in Karnataka, Baramati and Rahuri in Maharashtra, Koridang in Nagaland, Dharmanagar in Tripura, and Umreth in Gujarat.
Necessitated after the death of then Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash on January 28, the Baramati bypoll is expected to be smooth-sailing for the late Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief’s wife Sunetra Pawar, who now serves in her husband’s place in the state Cabinet. With no major political party fielding candidates against her and her family’s strong hold on Baramati, she is highly likely to chance upon luck in her first ever Assembly poll. Congress had fielded Akash More but the party later decided to withdraw his candidature.
The election win is crucial for Sunetra Pawar to fulfil a Constitutional provision that requires a deputy chief minister to become a member of one of the two houses of the state legislature – assembly or council – within six months of taking oath.
In Maharashtra’s Rahuri, BJP MLA Shivaji Kardile’s death in October last year death last year necessitated bypolls, which his son Akshay Kardile is contesting against NCP (SP)’s Govind Mokate and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s Santosh Chalke.
Keenly-watched will also be contests in Karnataka’s Bagalkot and Davanagere South, which voted on April 9. The bypolls were necessitated by the deaths of senior Congress MLAs HY Meti (Bagalkot) and Shamanur Shivashankarappa (Davanagere South). The contest is seen as a matter of prestige for the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP, with the latter looking to wrest the seat to deliver a setback as the Siddaramaiah-led party witnesses an “internal power struggle”.
The BJP fielded former MLA and 2023 defeated candidate Veerabhadrayya Charantimath from Bagalkot, and a fresh face, Srinivas T Dasakariyappa, from Davanagere South. Congress’ Bagalkot candidate Umesh Meti is the son of HY Meti, while Samarth Mallikarjun from Davanagere South is the grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
In the Umreth Assembly constituency of Gujarat, a by-election was necessitated following the death of sitting BJP MLA Govind Parmar in March. Six candidates contested the seat, with the main contest seen between BJP nominee Harshad Parmar, son of the late MLA, and Congress candidate Bhrugurajsinh Chauhan.
Six candidates – Jahar Chakraborty (BJP), Amitabh Datta (CPIM), Chayan Bhattacharjee (Congress), Bibash Ranjan Das (Amra Bangalee), Brajalal Debnath (Independent), and Sanjoy Chaudhury (SUCI) – seek an election from Tripura’s Dharmanagar. The by-election was necessitated following the death of the Speaker of Tripura Legislative Assembly, Biswa Bandhu Sen, in December 2025.
Counting of votes will also be held in Nagaland’s Koridang Assembly seat, where bypolls were held after the death of sitting BJP MLA Imkong L Imchen. Six candidates are in the fray for the seat, including BJP nominee Daochier I Imchen, who is also the consensus candidate of Peoples’ Democratic Alliance (PDA) government led by Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF), Congress candidate T Chalukumba Ao, NPP’s I Abenjang, and Independents Imchatoba Imchen, Imtiwapang, and Toshikaba.
The repoll in Goa’s Ponda constituency was cancelled by the Bombay High Court citing violation of the Representation of the People Act, as the legislature’s term is set to expire in less than a year. The bypoll, necessitated by the death of sitting BJP MLA Ravi Naik on October 15, 2025, was to take place on April 9. The Opposition Congress had approached the Supreme Court against the cancellation of the bypoll.
