Nilambur (Kerala): Voting began for the high-stakes assembly bye-elections in five constituencies across the country on Thursday. The polling began at 7 am on the Nilambur seat in Kerala, the Ludhiana West seat in Punjab, the Kaliganj seat in West Bengal, and the Visavadar and Kadi seats in Gujarat. The results will be declared on 23 June.The Left Democratic Front (LDF) has fielded M Swaraj, the United Democratic Front (UDF) has fielded Aryadan Shoukath, while the BJP has fielded Adv. Mohan George is a candidate for the Nilambur Assembly constituency.Earlier, stressing that the Nilambur by-election is the semi-final before the 2026 Assembly polls, Kerala LoP and Congress MLA VD Satheesan said that they will emerge victorious, which will mark the beginning of the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) return to the state.Speaking to ANI, Satheesan said, “This is a political contest, a direct fight between the UDF and the LDF. It is the semi-final leading up to the 2026 Assembly elections, and we are confident of winning by a significant margin. We see this as an opportunity to hold the Pinarayi government accountable, a government that has been in power for the past nine years.”On Punjab’s Ludhiana seat, the BJP has fielded Jiwan Gupta as its candidate. The Aam Aadmi Party has chosen Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora from the seat, which fell vacant after the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi.On West Bengal’s Kaliganj seat, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) has fielded Alifa Ahmed, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Ashish Ghosh, and the Congress has fielded Kabil Uddin Shaikh as candidates for the by-elections.On Gujarat’s Visavadar constituency, the BJP has fielded Kirit Patel, Congress has nominated Nitin Ranpariya, while AAP has placed its former Gujarat president Gopal Italia.On Kadi seat, the BJP has fielded Rajendra Chavda. Congress has fielded Ramesh Chavda, a former MLA who won the seat in 2012, while AAP has chosen Jagdish Chavda.
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