Voting for seven legislative assembly seats in the six Indian states kicked off on Thursday morning: although the by-election result will not affect the ruling state governments, the result could be regarded as a litmus test for the governing and opposition parties.
Polling is being held in Telangana state's Munugode, Mokama and Gopalganj in the state of Bihar, Andheri (East) in Maharashtra state, Adampur in Haryana state, Gola Gokaran Nath in Uttar Pradesh, and Dhamnagar in Odisha state, with all the votes to be counted on Sunday.
In Bihar, the by-election could be decisive for state chief Nitish Kumar, who left BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in August to form a coalition government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and Left parties.
In Telangana, politician Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy resigned from Congress in August to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, so this time, he is re-contesting his seat on a BJP ticket.
Similarly in the Adampur seat in Haryana, Kuldeep Bishnoi, the son of former state chief Bhajanlal Bishnoi, resigned from Congress and switched to the BJP.
In Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, the BJP is expecting to retain its seats, as in both places the politicians died and the BJP is now fielding the sons of the deceased lawmakers.