India Bypolls 6 Oct 2026: Seats and ECI Dates

The Election Commission of India has a short, dated bye-election on the board, and the searches are already specific: which seats, which day, when counting happens. On 7 September 2026 the Commission announced bye-elections for five assembly constituencies and one Lok Sabha constituency, with polling on Tuesday, 6 October 2026 and counting on Friday, 9 October 2026. The process is to be completed by Sunday, 11 October 2026. This page is the schedule and the seats. A separate note looks only at how the 9 October count is organised.

Verification note: Dates and the vacancy list follow the Commission’s schedule as reported from the 7 September 2026 press note (ECI/PN/114/2026 in copies of the annex) by The Hindu, DD News, and the published schedule table. Polling-station hours were not in that annex. Do not assume a 07:00–18:00 poll until the constituency order says so. This page does not campaign for any candidate.

Dates in IST

The elections are inside India, so the clock is already IST. There is no foreign conversion to get wrong, but there are two different days, and people mix them.

• Gazette notification: Wednesday, 9 September 2026
• Last date for nominations: Wednesday, 16 September 2026
• Scrutiny: Thursday, 17 September 2026
• Last withdrawal: Saturday, 19 September 2026
• Poll: Tuesday, 6 October 2026
• Counting: Friday, 9 October 2026
• Process to be completed by: Sunday, 11 October 2026

By 24 September the nomination and withdrawal windows in that annex have closed. The remaining public events are the poll, the count, and completion. Candidate names after withdrawal belong on the returning officer’s list, not in a September rumour thread. If a symbol or a name on a social card does not match the official list, discard the card.

The six vacancies

The schedule names the seats and the reason recorded for each vacancy. All six are resignations. They are not a general election, and they do not change every seat in those states.

• Tamil Nadu, 35-Madurantakam (SC): resignation of Maragatham Kumaravel
• Tamil Nadu, 101-Dharapuram (SC): resignation of P. Sathyabama
• Puducherry, 09-Thattanchavady: resignation of N. Rangasamy
• West Bengal, 70-Rejinagar: resignation of Humayun Kabir
• West Bengal, 210-Nandigram: resignation of Suvendu Adhikari
• Assam, 09-Nagaon (Lok Sabha): resignation of Pradyut Bordoloi

Madurantakam and Dharapuram are reserved for Scheduled Castes. The voter roll and the candidate rules for a reserved seat are not identical to an unreserved seat. Check the Commission’s instructions rather than copying an unreserved checklist. Nagaon is a parliamentary constituency; the other five are assembly constituencies. A win in Nagaon changes one Lok Sabha seat. A win in Nandigram or Rejinagar changes one West Bengal assembly seat. Those are different chambers.

Seats that were vacant but not in this schedule

Reporting from Tamil Nadu noted other vacant assembly seats — including seats where election-related cases were still pending — that the Commission did not include in the 6 October notification. Absence from this annex means “not this bye-election,” not “the seat has been filled.” If the Commission schedules those later, that will be a new notification with new dates. Do not add them to 6 October because a local headline mentioned the vacancy.

How a bye-election differs from a state election

Only the vacant seat votes. The rest of the assembly or the rest of the Lok Sabha is not dissolved. The model code, as applied by the Commission to a bye-election, is geographically limited compared with a full state poll, but the exact area is whatever the Commission’s order says for this notification. Government advertising, transfers, and campaign meetings are regulated inside that area. Outside it, ordinary government work continues. If you are a business publishing campaign-period ads, read the order before you assume the whole state is under the same restriction.

Voters use the roll in force for the constituency. An elector photo identity card or one of the alternative documents the Commission has notified is what the presiding officer is told to accept. A forwarded list of “new ID rules” that does not match the Commission’s latest instruction is the usual way eligible voters get turned around at the door. Take the instruction from eci.gov.in or the district election office.

Hours, EVMs, and postal ballots

The annex we reviewed gives the poll date and not the hours. Hours are often uniform, but they are still printed in the constituency notice and can differ for a specific booth if the Commission orders it. Electronic voting machines and the VVPAT slip are the normal in-station method in these contests. Postal ballots and, where notified, home-voting arrangements for eligible voters follow the Commission’s extant directions. The count of those papers is part of 9 October, which is why a “full result at poll close” claim on 6 October is premature.

How to follow 6 October

On poll day, follow the Commission’s turnout bulletins and the district feeds, not a volunteer spreadsheet. Turnout percentages during the day are administrative updates. They are not a winner. Repoll, if any booth’s process is voided, is a separate order with a new date. Until that order exists, do not invent one.

Counting centres, the start of counting, and the round-wise tables are a 9 October subject. Bookmark the Commission and the chief electoral officers of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, West Bengal, and Assam. For the habit of reading a primary source, see how to check election results, another India result page, on the IBPS PO prelims, and the EPF explainer if you are publishing a cluster of public-service guides. A constituency microsite is ordinary web work; website development and digital marketing are where we help.

What a voter and a reporter each need before 6 October

A voter needs the booth slip or the electoral-roll entry, the photo identification the Commission has listed for this election, and the hours on the constituency notice. Those hours were not in the national annex. Arriving at 18:05 because a national habit says polls run until 18:00 is a good way to miss a poll that closed earlier, or to queue uselessly if the local order runs later. The district election office and the Booth App or the equivalent the Commission is using this season are the lookup. A party worker’s handwritten chit is not, if it disagrees with the roll.

A reporter needs the final list after withdrawal, the reserved status of Madurantakam and Dharapuram, and a clear label that Nagaon is Lok Sabha while the other five are assemblies. The resignation reasons in the schedule explain why the seats are vacant. They do not explain how anyone will vote, and they should not be padded into a motive. Other vacant Tamil Nadu seats that were left off this notification stay off your 6 October story. If a court later clears one of them, that is a new schedule.

Model code questions from businesses — a government advertisement, a transfer, a public ceremony — are answered by the Commission’s order for this bye-election, which describes the area it covers. A state-wide assumption will be too wide or too narrow. Read the order. When in doubt, the chief electoral officer of the state is the office that will say whether a particular district is inside the restricted area. Guessing in print is how a neutral explainer becomes a legal problem for someone else.

Postal ballots and any notified home voting are part of this election even though they are not cast inside the booth on 6 October. They are counted on 9 October with the machines. A turnout graphic on poll evening that ignores them is an in-station turnout, not the full electorate. Say which one you are quoting. Repolls, if a booth is voided, get a fresh order and a fresh date; they are not rumoured into existence because a video looked chaotic. The completion line in the schedule is 11 October, which is the outer bound, not a second counting day.

Keep the six names paired with their chamber. Madurantakam and Dharapuram are reserved assembly seats in Tamil Nadu. Thattanchavady is an assembly seat in Puducherry. Rejinagar and Nandigram are assembly seats in West Bengal. Nagaon is a Lok Sabha seat in Assam. A sentence that calls all six “assembly bypolls” is wrong about Nagaon, and a sentence that calls them a state election is wrong about all of them. The Commission’s press note is a bye-election order for vacant seats, dated 7 September 2026, with the poll on 6 October and the count on 9 October.

FAQ

When is the poll?

Tuesday, 6 October 2026, in the six constituencies named by the Election Commission. Hours were not in the schedule annex reviewed for this page.

When is counting?

Friday, 9 October 2026. The election process is to be completed by 11 October 2026.

Which Lok Sabha seat is included?

09-Nagaon in Assam. The other five contests are assembly bye-elections in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and West Bengal.

Have nominations closed?

Under the published schedule, withdrawals ended on 19 September 2026. Read the final candidate list from the returning officer.

Does this page recommend a candidate?

No. It records the Commission’s dates and the vacancies those dates are meant to fill.

Questions about publishing the count cleanly can go through contact.