Counting of votes will begin at 8:00 am
Counting of votes will be held today in three Lok Sabha and 32 assembly constituencies spread across nine states where by-elections were held on September 13, with stakes high for the BJP.
The three Lok Sabha seats are in Vadodara (Gujarat), vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh) and Medak (Telangana) while 11 assembly constituencies are in Uttar Pradesh, nine in Gujarat, four in Rajasthan, two in West Bengal, five in Northeastern states and one in Andhra Pradesh.
24 of these assembly seats were held by the BJP and one each by its allies Apna Dal and Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
After the BJP's near-total sweep of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in Lok Sabha polls just four months ago, the focus will be on whether the party can retain its 10 seats. One seat was earlier with its ally Apna Dal.
Last month, the BJP had received a jolt in assembly by-elections suffering a 4-6 defeat at the hands of the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Janata Dal (United)-Congress alliance in Bihar and yielding two strongholds to the Congress in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
Today's by-election results, seen as yet another test of Narendra Modi government's popularity since it assumed power in May, are also important as the BJP is preparing for polls in Haryana and Maharashtra next month where it hopes to oust the Congress.
Around 53 per cent votes were cast in the seats in Uttar Pradesh, including Mainpuri vacated by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Samajwadi Party has fielded Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, the grandson of Mulayam Singh Yadav's elder brother. The challenge is not just to win the seat again but also to maintain the big margin.
The 11 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, whose outcome may be a pointer to which way the political wind is blowing in the run up to 2017 assembly polls, are Saharanpur Nagar, Noida, Thakurdwara, Bijnor, Nighasan, Balha, Sirathu, Rohaniya, Hamirpur, Charkhari and Lucknow East.
In Rajasthan, it is a close contest between the main opposition Congress and the ruling BJP, which would try to retain all four seats and maintain a tally of 163 in the House of 200. The four assembly seats in Rajasthan saw a voting figure of 66 per cent.
The counting of votes would begin in four district headquarters of Jhunjhunu, Ajmer, Kota and Bharatpur at 8:00 am, Chief Electoral Officer Govind Sharma said in Jaipur.
The Trinamool Congress is hoping to retain two assembly seats of Basirhat Dakshin and Chowringhee in West Bengal in the face of the Saradha chit fund scam that has already ensnared some of its leaders.
In Gujarat, Narendra Modi's successor as chief minister Anandiben Patel is facing her first big test with the by-elections in Vadodara Lok Sabha seat and in nine assembly constituencies, all held by the BJP earlier.
It is the first election in Gujarat in more than 12 years that the BJP fought without its star campaigner Modi.
In Medak, Telangana Rashtra Samithi's K Prabhakar Reddy contested against the BJP's T Jayaprakash Reddy in Medak, the seat vacated by K Chandrasekhar Rao on becoming Telangana Chief Minister.
The TDP is trying hard to prove it won't be easy to conquer its bastion Nandigama assembly in Krishna district where it is in a direct fight against the Congress.
The Congress again faces a challenge in Assam against the BJP as well as perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal's All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF). The assembly seats where by-elections were held are Lakhipur and Silchar, both held by the Congress earlier.
Jamunamukh was held by AIUDF.
Counting of votes will also be held for Rangang-Yangang seat in Sikkim and Manu in Tripura.