Question

Differentiate between General election and By-elections ? ​

Answer 1

Elections is your regular polling process that always happens on a set date. By-election is a special election that is held when a vacancy comes up due to either the death of the candidate, disqualification of the candidate or resignation of the candidate.

So say a state goes to polls in December 2017 and it has 100 seats. Elections will take place for all those 100 seats. The winning candidates will serve a term of five years. The next election will only be held after five years. But if an elected candidate is murdered or dies due to any other reason in 2018, then an election to fill that vacancy will be held for just that one seat, that election is called by-election.