Agartala/Kohima, March 15 – The Election Commission (EC) announced on Sunday that by-elections would be held for two Assembly constituencies in two northeastern states – Tripura and Nagaland.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, while announcing the election schedule for four states – Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, also announced by-elections for eight Assembly constituencies in Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland, and Tripura.
CEC Kumar also announced the schedule for by-elections in the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency (Tripura) and the Koridang Assembly constituency (Nagaland), the latter of which is reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
Polling for the two Assembly constituencies will take place on April 9, with results to be announced on May 4.
The by-election in the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency in North Tripura district became necessary following the death of Tripura Assembly Speaker and veteran legislator Biswa Bandhu Sen.
Sen, 72, passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru on December 26, 2025, after undergoing medical treatment for more than four and a half months.
He was elected to the Tripura Assembly four times – twice from Dharmanagar on a Congress ticket in 2008 and 2013, and later in 2018 and 2023 as a nominee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the same constituency.
The main opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front nominated former MLA Amitabha Datta as its candidate for the Dharmanagar by-election on March 9.
The ruling BJP and other parties have yet to announce their candidates.
Meanwhile, the by-election in the Koridang Assembly constituency in Nagaland was necessitated by the death of veteran Naga leader Imkong L. Imchen, who passed away at a private hospital in Guwahati on November 11, 2024, after a brief illness.
Imchen, 75, was elected to the Nagaland Assembly five times from the Koridang constituency – first as an Independent in 2003, then on Naga People's Front tickets in 2008, 2013, and 2018, before winning on a BJP ticket in 2023.