18 Assembly seats undergoing by-elections in four states today

The by-elections are also being held for three seats each in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and two in Punjab.

The by-elections in as many as 18 seats across four states will be a crucial political fight for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since it stormed to power in the general elections three months ago.

Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Nitish’s Janata Dal United (JD-U) had joined hands to take on their common enemy BJP in the state. On Aug 11, they had held their first rally together and were seen hugging each other at the event.

The duo, both former chief ministers of Bihar, had parted ways twenty years ago but once again came together to jointly fight the by-polls in 10 Assembly seats

The parties entered into a seat-sharing agreement along with the Congress in which both JD-U and RJD will contest in four seats each leaving two to the Congress in the state.

The BJP had won 32 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in this year’s Lok Sabha election. It is contesting the by-election in nine seats leaving only one to its ally Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

The by-elections in Bihar are being seen as the semi-finals ahead of the high voltage state Assembly polls scheduled next year.

On the other hand, two of the three seats in Karnataka that were undergoing by-election on Thursday were held by BJP leaders BS Yeddyurappa and B Sriramulu. The duo became members of Parliament in 2014 LS polls. The third Assembly seat was held by the ruling Congress.

The counting of votes in the by-elections will take place on August 25.