Bye-elections in 63 Assembly seats in 17 states and the Union Territory of Puducherry will take place along with the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections on October 21, the Election Commission of India announced on Saturday. The votes will be counted on October 24.

The bye-elections will be held in Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said at a press conference. “I request the cooperation of all stakeholders in this democratic exercise,” NDTV quoted him as saying.

Among the seats where bye-elections will be held are 15 constituencies in Karnataka that became vacant after MLAs of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) were disqualified in July for ignoring their parties’ whip. The legislators’ resignations were not accepted by then Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar. The coalition government of the two parties collapsed after it lost a trust vote 99-105. Bharatiya Janata Party state chief BS Yediyurappa was sworn in as the chief minister later in the month.

These will be the first elections in the country since the Lok Sabha polls were held in April and May. The BJP won the general elections with a thumping majority of 303 seats. This is also the first time elections will be held in Assam following the publication of the final list of the National Register of Citizens. Bye-elections will be held in four Assembly seats in the state.

Bye-polls will also be held in four seats in Bihar, 11 Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, five seats each in Kerala and Bihar, four constituencies each in Gujarat and Punjab, three seats in Sikkim, two constituencies each in Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, and one seat each in Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha and Puducherry.

The Congress-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam alliance will contest one seat each in the Tamil Nadu bye-elections, ANI reported, while the Congress will contest the lone seat in Puducherry.

The last date of filing nominations is September 30 and the last date to withdraw nominations is October 3.

Also read:

Maharashtra and Haryana to vote on October 21, results out on October 24

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