Election Commission announces bypolls for 3 assembly seats in Telangana, UP

The Election Commission of India on Thursday announced by-elections for three legislative assembly seats in Telangana and Uttar Pradesh on January 29.

The notification for elections will be issued on January 11, it said. The last date to file nominations is January 18. Polls will be held on January 29 and votes will be counted on January 29, said the poll watchdog.

The election commission further instructed that the “broad guidelines of COVID-19”, issued in October 2023 before five states went to polls, must be followed.

Two seats in Telangana and one in Uttar Pradesh were left vacant after their legislators resigned in 2023.

Telangana Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLA Kadiyam Srihari from the Ghanpur Station constituency and MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy from the Huzurabad constituency, respectively, had resigned on December 9, 2023, less than a week winning. Their term is up to November 30, 2027.

Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Dr Dinesh Dharma resigned on September 30, 2023, after being elected to the Rajya Sabha. His assembly term is up to January 30, 2027.