New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) on Sunday announced by-elections to one assembly seat each in Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Chhattisgarh and Kerala will be held on September 23. The constituencies for which the dates were announced are Dantewada (Chhattisgarh), Pala (Kerala), Badharghat (Tripura) and Hamirpur (Uttar Pradesh).The bypoll in Hamirpur was necessitated by the disqualification of BJP MLA Ashok Chandel. His disqualification came after was convicted in a murder case. By-elections are also due to 12 other assembly seats in UP, as many sitting MLAs won the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. The EC has not announced the dates for these constituencies yet. The BJP is the ruling party in the state, with 303 of the 404 seats under its control.The Dantewada, Pala and Badharghat bypolls were necessitated following the death of the respective sitting MLAs. Dantewada’s BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi was killed in a Naxalite attack just ahead of the general elections in April. The BJP is the opposition party in Chhattisgarh, where it won only 14 of the 90 seats in the December 2018 elections.Pala’s MLA and veteran Kerala Congress leader K.M. Mani passed away at the age of 86 in April. The Congress-led UDF alliance is the main opposition in Kerala. It controls 41 of the 140 seats in the legislative assembly.In Tripura’s Badharghat, BJP’s Dilip Sarkar also died in April. The BJP is in a ruling alliance in the state after it won 43 of the 60 seats in the left’s Northeast bastion.While the notification for the by-elections would be issued on August 28, counting will be held on September 27, the EC said.(With PTI inputs)