The assembly by-elections – held on Saturday — were held for five seats in Assam, four in Bengal, three each in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, two each in Bihar, Karnataka and Rajasthan and one seat each is in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram and Telangana.

The Lok Sabha seats for which by-elections were held are Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. The sitting members had died in all three constituencies.

Among the key leaders who contested are INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who quit the Haryana assembly in protest against the Centre’s new farm laws, Congress’ Pratibha Singh, wife of late Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, former national footballer Eugeneson Lyngdoh and ex-minister from Telangana Eatala Rajender.

In Mandi, Pratibha Singh is contesting against BJP candidate Khushal Singh Thakur, a Kargil war hero. In Dadra and Nagar Haveli, seven-time Independent MP Mohan Delkar’s wife Kalaben Delkar is contesting as a Shiv Sena candidate against BJP’s Mahesh Gavit and Congress’ Mahesh Dhodi.

Abhay Chautala, son of INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala, is contesting against Congress’s Pawan Beniwal and BJP-JP candidate Gobind Kanda, the brother of Haryana Lokhit Party chief and legislator Gopal Kanda. Ellenabad is the family turf of the Chautalas, once held by Om Prakash Chautala. Abhay Chautala has been holding the seat since 2010.

In Meghalaya, former footballer Eugeneson Lyngdoh is contesting from Mawphlang on a United Democratic Party ticket against former Congress MLA Kennedy C Khyriem and a sitting member of the district council from the NPP, Lamphrang Blah.

In Bengal, bypolls to Dinhata and Santipur are seen as a prestige battle for the BJP, which is currently grappling with an exodus of MLAs and senior leaders. The ruling Trinamool Congress’s Udayan Guha is looking to reclaim Dinhata seat. Nisith Pramanik, who won, resigned after he took over as the junior home minister at the Centre. In Santipur, BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar resigned from the assembly.

In Telangana, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, opposition BJP and Congress are battling for the In Huzurabad Assembly constituency, where sitting legislator Eatala Rajender stepped down after allegations of land grabbing. Mr Rajender, who dismissed the allegations, has quit the TRS and is contesting on a BJP ticket.

In Assam, the ruling BJP has fielded candidates in three seats leaving the other two to alliance partner UPPL. The Congress has fielded candidates on all five seats. Its former allies — the AIUDF and the BPF — are contesting in two and one seats.

In Karnataka, the by-elections for Sindgi and Hangal will be the first electoral test for Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who had replaced B S Yediyurappa. The elections in Rajasthan’s Vallabhnagar  and Dhariawad  will be a referendum on the performance of the Ashok Gehlot government, which faced a challenge last year from the Congress faction led by Sachin Pilot.