Campaigning has ended for bye-elections to six seats across four states and union territories. Polling will be held on Tuesday, October 6, and votes will be counted on Friday, October 9. The Election Commission says the entire process will be completed by October 11.

Five assembly seats go to the polls: Madurantakam (SC) and Dharapuram (SC) in Tamil Nadu, Thattanchavady in Puducherry, and Rejinagar and Nandigram in West Bengal. The sixth contest is the Nagaon parliamentary seat in Assam. All vacancies arose after the sitting representatives resigned.

The Nandigram seat in West Bengal is the one to watch. It fell vacant after the resignation of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and has long been a talking point in the state’s politics. In Assam, the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat was vacated by Pradyut Bordoloi’s resignation.

The Commission will use EVMs with VVPAT at all polling stations. The Model Code of Conduct is in force in the affected districts. Electoral rolls will be updated up to the last date for filing nominations.