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New Delhi: The high-stakes assembly by-elections in five constituencies—the Visavadar and Kadi seats in Gujarat, the Kaliganj seat in West Bengal, the Ludhiana West seat in Punjab, and the Nilambur seat in Kerala—have started counting ballots. The counting began at 8 AM today, and the results for each constituency will be announced.

As the vote-counting process got underway at 8 a.m. in Ludhiana, security was stepped up outside the Khalsa College for Women.

AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi died in January of this year from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, necessitating the by-election.

Sanjeev Arora, a Rajya Sabha MP, is the candidate put up by the AAP. Jiwan Gupta, the head of the BJP, and Bharat Bhushan Ashu, a former state minister, were the candidates put forth by the Congress.

Superintendent of Police DK Chaudhary told ANI that the vote-counting process will start at 8 a.m. Security was set up around five in the morning. The security system has three tiers. The counting center will only be accessible to those who are authorized. There are around 450 police officers on duty. Sufficient preparations have been made.

In the meanwhile, postal votes are being tallied first in Kadi, Gujarat, where the counting started at 8 AM.

Following the passing of current MLA Karsanbhai Punjabhai Solanki in February of this year, the Kadi by-election became necessary.

Rajendra Chavda has been put up by the BJP for the Kadi seat. The AAP has selected Jagdish Chavda, while the Congress has put forth Ramesh Chavda, a former MLA who was elected in 2012.

M. Swaraj is the candidate of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), Aryadan Shoukath is the candidate of the United Democratic Front (UDF), and Adv is the candidate of the BJP. Mohan George is a contender for the seat in the Nilambur Assembly.

After PV Anvar, an independent lawmaker from the Left Democratic Front, resigned and joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) after a contentious split from the governing coalition, a by-election was required.

Candidates for the by-elections in West Bengal’s Kaliganj seat are Alifa Ahmed of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Ashish Ghosh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Kabil Uddin Shaikh of the Congress. Following the passing of TMC leader Nasiruddin Ahmed, a by-election was required in Kaliganj.

The Congress has put forth Nitin Ranpariya, the BJP has put forward Kirit Patel, while the AAP has put forward Gopal Italia, the former president of Gujarat. Following the resignation of Bhayani Bhupendrabhai Gandubhai, the Visavadar seat became vacant.