Bypolls to one Uttarakhand and three West Bengal assembly seats on November 25

The bypolls to one assembly seats in Uttarakhand and three assembly seats in West Bengal will be held on November 25, the Election Commission of India said on Friday. 

The counting of votes for bypolls to Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand and West Bengal's Kharagpur Sadar, Kaliaganj (SC) and Karimpur and assembly seats will be conducted on November 28, the poll body said. 

The election in Pithoragarh was necessitated after the death of state BJP minister Prakash Pant in June. 

Kaliaganj seat fell vacant following the death of sitting Congress MLA Pramatha Nath Ray on May 31 while Kharagpur Sadar and Karimpur seats were vacated after sitting BJP MLA Dilip Ghosh and TMC’s Mahua Moitra were elected to Lok Sabha, respectively.

"After taking into consideration inputs from the Chief Electoral Officers of Uttarakhand and West Bengal and various factors like local festivals, electoral rolls, weather conditions etc., the Commission has decided to hold bye-elections to fill these vacancies," the ECI said. 

According to a press release issued by the EC, notification for the by-election to 44-Pithoragarh constituency will be issued on October 30. 

The last date of filing nomination papers is November 6 and scrutiny of nomination papers will be completed by November 7. The last date of withdrawal of candidature for all four seats is November 11.

The voting will be conducted using EVM and VVPAT machines, the EC said.  With the announcement of the election schedule, the Model Code of Conduct has "come into force in the district(s) in which the whole or any part of the Parliamentary & Assembly constituency going for election is included."