Bypolls to four assembly seats in Punjab on Nov 13

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday announced that by-elections to four assembly seats — Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC), Gidderbaha, and Barnala — will be held on November 13.
The results will be declared on November 23, said Punjab chief electoral officer (CEO) Sibin C.
The four assembly seats fell vacant after MLAs from these constituencies were elected to the Lok Sabha.
Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who was the Congress MLA from Gidderbaha, was elected from the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat while Raj Kumar Chabbewal, a Congress MLA who later joined the AAP, was elected from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat.
Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who was Congress MLA from Dera Baba Nanak, got elected from Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, who was AAP MLA from Barnala, was elected as MP from the Sangrur seat.
The Punjab CEO said the notification for the by-elections will be issued on October 18. The last date for filing nominations is October 25 and the scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted on October 28, Sibin C said, adding that the last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 30.
He said with the announcement of the bypoll dates, the election code of conduct has come into effect in the districts where these constituencies are located — Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Muktsar Sahib, and Barnala.
The code of conduct will remain in force until the completion of the election process till November 25.
Sibin C said as of October 10, the total number of voters in the four constituencies is 6,96,316, with a total of 831 polling stations.
The Dera Baba Nanak seat has 1,93,268 electors and it will have 241 polling stations. In Chabbewal reserve seat, the number of voters is 1,59,254, with 205 polling stations.
In Gidderbaha, the voter count stands at 1,66,489 with 173 polling stations and Barnala has 1,77,305 voters and will have 212 polling stations, the CEO said.
Gurdaspur deputy commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta and Hoshiarpur DC Komal Mittal have been appointed as the district election officers (DEO) for the Dera Baba Nanak and Chabbewal (SC) assembly seats, respectively.
Muktsar DC Rajesh Tripathi has been appointed as DEO for the Gidderbaha constituency, and Barnala DC Poonamdeep Kaur will be the DEO for Barnala seat.
Additionally, the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Dera Baba Nanak has been appointed as the returning officer for that constituency, while the additional deputy commissioner of Hoshiarpur has been named the returning officer for Chabbewal (SC).
The SDMs of Gidderbaha and Barnala have been appointed as the returning officers for their respective assembly segments.