EC notifies April 9 bypolls for Tripura’s Dharmanagar, Nagaland’s Koridang

Agartala/Kohima, March 16: A day after the poll schedule was announced along with Assembly elections in four states, statutory notifications for the April 9 by-elections to two Assembly constituencies in Tripura and Nagaland were issued on Monday.

According to the notifications issued by the election authorities in the two states, the filing of nominations began on Monday (March 16), while the last date for submitting nominations is March 23.

Scrutiny of nominations will take place on March 24, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature has been fixed for March 26.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, on Sunday, had announced the schedule for the bypolls in the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency in North Tripura district and the Koridang Assembly constituency in Mokokchung district of Nagaland, the latter reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

Polling for both constituencies will be held on April 9, while the results will be declared on May 4.

The bypoll in the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency in North Tripura district became necessary following the death of Tripura Assembly Speaker and veteran legislator Biswa Bandhu Sen.

Aged 72, Sen 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 CPI (M)-led Left Front on March 9 nominated former MLA Amitabha Datta as its candidate for the Dharmanagar bypoll.

The ruling BJP and other parties are yet to announce their candidates.

A total of 46,143 voters, including 23,763 women, are eligible to cast their votes in the Dharmanagar Assembly bypoll.

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.

A total of 22,390 voters, including 11,013 women, are entitled to vote in the Koridang Assembly constituency.

CEC Kumar, while announcing the Assembly election schedule on Sunday for four states namely, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, had also declared by-polls to eight Assembly constituencies across Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Tripura.

IANS