Organisation : Election Commission of India (ECI)
Announcement : Schedule For Bye Elections to the Council of States from West Bengal 2026
Date of Poll : 24th July 2026
Website : https://www.eci.gov.in/
Contents
ECI Bye Elections to the Council of States from West Bengal
The Commission has directed that for the purpose of marking preference(s) on the ballot paper, only integrated violet colour sketch pen(s) of pre-fixed specification, provided by the Returning Officer, shall be used. No other pen shall, under any circumstances, be used in the aforesaid elections.
There are 03 casual vacancies in the Council of States from West Bengal, as per the following details:
Schedule For Bye Elections to the Council of States from West Bengal
The Commission has decided to hold 03 separate bye-elections to the Council of States to fill up the above-mentioned vacancies in accordance with the following schedule:
Adequate measures for close monitoring of the election process by appointing observers shall be taken to ensure free and fair elections. It is further clarified that the vacancies for Bye-elections to all Houses, including the Rajya Sabha, are considered as separate vacancies and separate notifications are issued and separate poll is taken for each of the vacancies although the programme schedule for the bye-elections may be common.
This is in conformity with the provisions of Section 147 to 151 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and has been the consistent practice of the Commission in such cases. Holding of separate elections has been upheld by the Hon’ble Delhi High Court in W.P. No. 9357 of 2006 (Satya Pal Malik Vs Election Commission of India) by its decision dated 20.01.2009.
Electronic Voting Machines
The Commission has decided to use EVMs and VVPATs in the bye-election in all the polling stations. Adequate numbers of EVMs and VVPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the poll is conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.
Functioning of EVM and VVPAT:
** Control Unit is kept with the Presiding Officer/Polling Officer and Ballot Unit and VVPAT are kept in the Voting Compartment.
** When a vote is cast on Ballot Unit by pressing candidate button (Blue Button) of his/her choice, RED light is glow against that particular candidate button.
** On other hand, a slip is printed on the VVPAT printer containing the serial number, name and symbol of the candidate and remains exposed through a transparent window for about 7 seconds.
** Thereafter, this printed slip automatically gets cut and falls in sealed drop-box of the VVPAT.
** Thereafter, a beep sound is heard from the Control Unit to ensure vote has been registered successfully