Nagaland led early voter turnout in the ongoing Assembly bypolls, according to Election Commission data released Thursday morning.

At 9:00 AM, Koridang (ST) in Nagaland recorded a 19.80% turnout, the highest among all constituencies. Tripura’s Dharmanagar followed with 15.63%, while Karnataka’s Bagalkot and Davangere South logged 11.87% and 9.01%, respectively. Polling began at 7:00 AM across these constituencies.

Key Contests and Vacancies:

Nagaland (Koridang): Congress candidate T Chalukumba AO is contesting against Daochier I Imchen, son of late BJP leader Imkong L Imchen, whose death led to the vacancy. BJP’s Imchainba Jamir withdrew in favor of Imchen.

Tripura (Dharmanagar): BJP’s Jahar Chakraborti is facing Congress’s Chayan Bhattacharjee and CPI(M)’s Amitabha Datta. The seat became vacant following the death of Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen.

Karnataka:

Bagalkot: Congress candidate Umesh Meti, son of late MLA HY Meti, is contesting against BJP’s Veerabhadrayya Charantimath.

Davangere South: Congress’s Samarth Mallikarjun, son of Minister SS Mallikarjun, is running against BJP’s Srinivas T Dasakariyappa. The seat was vacated following the death of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.

The bypoll in Goa’s Ponda constituency was cancelled by the Bombay High Court. Remaining bypolls in Gujarat (Umreth) and Maharashtra (Rahuri, Baramati) are scheduled for April 23, with results for all seats expected on May 4.