Vote counting for by-elections to five Assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha seat across Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Puducherry and Assam began on Friday, October 9, 2026, according to The Hindu. The contests follow polling held on October 6 and are being watched as early indicators of the political mood in states where power changed hands earlier this year.
By Friday afternoon, Bharatiya Janata Party candidates were leading in both West Bengal seats, while the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) was ahead in Tamil Nadu. In Assam's Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency, BJP candidate Devasish Sharma held a commanding lead.
Why it matters
The West Bengal results are the first electoral test for the BJP since it replaced the Trinamool Congress after 15 years in power, The Hindu reports. The two seats, Nandigram and Rejinagar, will offer an early reading of whether the party's support has held since the change of government.
In Tamil Nadu, the bypolls are the first since the TVK, led by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, came to power in May. The Hindu notes the contests are viewed as a measure of the party's popularity, while the opposition AIADMK hopes to win back seats it lost to the TVK in April's Assembly elections.
The Puducherry and Assam results add two more data points to a single day of counting spread across four states and one union territory.
West Bengal: BJP ahead in both seats
In Nandigram, BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath led by a margin of 31,943 votes over Congress's Milan Pradhan, according to Election Commission of India results cited by The Hindu. Earlier in the day, after two rounds of counting, Rath's lead stood at more than 19,000 votes.
At Rejinagar, BJP's Sankharav Sarkar was ahead by 20,257 votes over Golam Nabi Azad (Robin) of the Aam Janata Unnayan party. The Times of India reported that in one round Sarkar's margin reached 11,033 votes, with Congress candidate Abdullahil Kafi trailing at 581 votes and Azad at 446.
The counting in Bengal has not been without dispute. Telegraph India reported that the Congress urged Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to halt the vote count in Rejinagar and order a fresh poll.
Tamil Nadu: TVK edges ahead in Madurantakam and Dharapuram
In the Madurantakam (SC) constituency in Chengalpattu district, TVK's P. Sathyabama led with 18,690 votes, ahead of AIADMK's K. Banumathi at 17,773 and DMK's S. Suganya at 15,988. An earlier count had Sathyabama at 16,201 votes, Banumathi at 14,807 and Suganya at 13,797.
The Madurantakam count was marked by a complaint from Independent candidate Dr. G. Moorthy, who alleged that the EVM control unit at booth no. 11 malfunctioned. The Hindu reports he demanded that the VVPAT machine be produced and that his written request was not heeded. When he tried to address media outside the counting centre, police and CAPF personnel pushed him out.
In Dharapuram, the race tightened through the day. AIADMK's K. Banumathi held a five-vote lead after the first round with 2,639 votes to Sathyabama's 2,634, while DMK's S. Suganya polled 2,019 and CPI's P. Lakshmanan 70. Banumathi's margin widened to nearly 600 votes after the second round, with 5,573 votes against Sathyabama's 4,981 and Suganya's 4,016. By the fifth round, Sathyabama had pulled ahead with 13,213 votes, pushing Banumathi to second at 12,489 and Suganya to third at 11,554.
The Hindu reports that early trends from the Tamil Nadu counts indicated an advantage for the ruling TVK, followed by the DMK and the AIADMK.
Puducherry and Assam
In Puducherry's Thattanchavady segment, AINRC candidate Ashok Anand, backed by the BJP and AIADMK, established a clear lead. He secured 3,273 votes in the first round against Congress's E. Vinayagam at 1,222 and DMK's Sethu Selvam at 786. His margin grew past 4,500 votes after the second round and reached 13,358 by the fourth round, with Vinayagam trailing at 4,876. Party workers were seen celebrating as Anand's lead held through successive rounds.
In Assam's Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency, BJP's Devasish Sharma, a former IAS officer, extended his lead over AIUDF chief Mohammed Badruddin Ajmal. The margin moved from 43,418 votes to 59,127 and later to 76,104 as counting progressed. At one stage, Sharma had polled 92,345 votes to Ajmal's 48,927, with Congress's Sibamoni Bora a distant third at 12,982.
Counting in Tamil Nadu's two seats was carried out under a three-tier security cover, according to The Hindu.
What to watch next: final results and declarations across all six seats, along with any decision by the Election Commission on the Congress request for a fresh poll in Rejinagar.
