ECI Sets By‑Poll Dates for Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry

The Election Commission of India has finally put a calendar on the table for a handful of by‑elections that have been looming for months. Voters in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, West Bengal and a parliamentary seat in Assam will head to the polls on Tuesday, October 6, 2026. The counting of ballots is scheduled for Friday, October 9, and the whole process should wrap up well before the 11th.

According to the official notice, the Gazette will be published on September 9, formally announcing the elections. Aspirants have until September 16 to file their nomination papers. Those papers will be scrutinised the very next day, September 17, and any candidate wishing to bow out can do so up to September 19. It’s a tight but familiar timeline for anyone who has watched Indian elections before.

Behind the dates, there’s a flurry of administrative work that often goes unnoticed. The final electoral rolls for each constituency have already been locked in. For instance, Assam’s Nagaon parliamentary constituency got its updated roll on February 10, while Puducherry’s Thattanchavady assembly seat was finalised on February 14. In Tamil Nadu, the Madurantakam (SC) and Dharapuram (SC) rolls were published on February 23, and West Bengal’s Rejinagar and Nandigram seats saw their rolls completed by the end of February.

The vacancies that triggered these by‑elections stem from a series of resignations. In Tamil Nadu, the SC‑reserved seats of Madurantakam and Dharapuram became open after Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama stepped down. Puducherry’s Thattanchavady seat is vacant following the resignation of former chief minister N. Rangasamy. West Bengal’s Rejinagar and Nandigram assemblies lost their incumbents, Humayun Kabir and Suvendu Adhikari respectively, while Assam’s Nagaon parliamentary seat is empty after Pradyut Bordoloi’s resignation.

Political parties are already gearing up, eyeing these contests as mini‑battlegrounds that could hint at larger trends ahead of the general elections. Voters, meanwhile, will have a few weeks to weigh their choices, especially in areas where the local issues differ markedly from the national narrative.

All eyes will be on the counting day, October 9, when the results will be declared and, hopefully, the political landscape in these regions will settle into a new equilibrium.