By PTI
NEW DELHI: The BJP and its allies on Tuesday, November 2, 2021, won 14 assembly seats while the Congress bagged eight out of 29 seats in the latest round of bypolls, with results mostly favouring ruling parties in the states except in Himachal Pradesh, where the BJP lost all three assembly seats and the prestigious Mandi Lok Sabha constituency to the Congress, and Telangana.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress got a ringing endorsement from the electors as it won all the four assembly seats, including two that it snatched from the BJP, with a staggering 75.02 percent vote share.
The results from the 13 states were a mixed bag for the BJP as well as the Congress, which gained in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, wresting seats from the saffron party, but suffered losses in Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya.
In the final tally, BJP got seven assembly seats while its allies JD(U) won two (Bihar), United Peoples’ Party Liberal – two (Assam), MNF -one (Mizoram) and NPP – two (Meghalaya).
NPP’s ally UDP also got one one seat.
Congress won eight seats, TMC four, YSRC one and INLD one seat.
One Lok Sabha seat each was bagged by the Congress, Shiv Sena and the BJP.
The sympathy factor appeared to have worked for the parties as Congress’ Pratibha Singh, wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh who died in July, won in Mandi Lok Sabha seat while Shiv Sena candidate Kalaben Delkar, wife of former independent MP Mohan Delkar whose death necessitated the by-election, bagged in Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat.
Similarly, the kin of deceased MLAs fielded by the Congress in Maharashtra, the JD(U) in Bihar and YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh also won.
The ruling BJP retained Khandwa Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh and wrested Jobat (SC) and Prithvipur assembly seats from the Congress but ceded Raigaon (SC) constituency to the opposition party.
The party also consolidated its position in Assam as its alliance won all five Assembly constituencies with the saffron party bagging three seats and its ally UPPL emerging victorious in the two.
It gained a seat in Telangana with the victory of former state minister Eatala Rajender who switched from the ruling TRS, while its ally JD(U) retained two sets in Bihar.
Former national footballer Eugeneson Lyngdoh won from Mawphlang constituency in Meghalaya.
In Rajasthan, where Congress retained one seat and snatched one from the BJP, the saffron party candidates not only lost the by-election but stood third and fourth in Dhariawad and Vallabhnagar constituencies respectively.
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala, who quit the assembly in protests against the Centre’s new agri laws, was re-elected from Haryana’s Ellenabad Assembly bypolls.
In Karnataka, the BJP wrested Sindagi assembly segment from the JD (S), but lost Hangal constituency to the Congress, seen as a jolt to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai as the seat neighbours his Shiggaon assembly segment in Haveri district and he had extensively campaigned there.
This was also the first major electoral challenge for Bommai, after taking charge as CM.
However, it was Himachal Pradesh where the ruling BJP suffered a major setback as it lost the Mandi seat, the home district of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, to the Congress which also wrested one assembly seat and retained two others.
Assembly elections in the state are due in December next year.
The Congress cited the bypoll results to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to shed arrogance, repeal the three farm laws and stop petrol and diesel “loot”.
“Every victory for the Congress is a victory of our party worker. Keep fighting hate. No fear!” Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter.
BJP chief J P Nadda congratulated party workers and expressed ”gratitude to the people for the victory of BJP and NDA in the Lok Sabha and Assembly by-elections”.
”Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NDA governments are continuously committed to the overall development of the people by following the basic mantra of Antyodaya,” he said.
Five of these 29 seats were in Assam, four in West 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 BJP had earlier won in around half a dozen of these constituencies, the Congress had nine, while the rest were with regional parties.
Voting was held on October 30 for the bypolls, seen as a barometer of the political mood in the country ahead of the next round of assembly elections in five states, including politically critical Uttar Pradesh.
ASSAM: The BJP’s Phani Talukdar, Rupjyoti Kurmi and Sushanta Borgohain retained their respective Bhabanipur, Mariani and Thowra seats which they had won in the assembly elections held earlier this year on tickets given by other parties.
The BJP’s ally UPPL wrested the Gossaigaon and Tamulpur.
In this year’s assembly election, Gossaigaon seat was won by the UPPL while BPF had bagged Tamulpur.
Mariani and Thowra had Congress MLAs, while Bhabanipur was cornered by AIUDF.
ANDHRA PRADESH: The ruling YSR Congress’ Dasari Sudha, the wife of late MLA Venkata Subbaiah, retained the Badvel (SC) Assembly seat for the party, defeating the BJP’s Panatala Suresh with a margin of 90,000 votes.
BIHAR: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) retained both Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats.
In Tarapur, JD(U) candidate Rajiv Kumar Singh defeated his nearest rival of the RJD, Arun Kumar Sah, by a slender margin of less than 4,000 votes, while it bagged Kusheshwar Asthan seat by a margin of more than 12,000 votes.
JD(U)’s Aman Bhushan Hazari, the death of whose father had necessitated the by-election, polled 58,882 votes.
HARYANA: INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala defeated BJP’s Gobind Kanda with a margin of over 6,700 votes in HIMACHAL PRADESH: The opposition Congress retained Fatehpur and Arki Assembly seats while it wrested Jubbal-Kotkhai seat from the BJP.
In Mandi, Pratibha Singh got 3,69,565 votes against 3,62,075 secured by the BJP candidate.
The ruling BJP candidate lost her deposits in Jubbal-Kotkhai, losing to a BJP rebel whose father earlier held the seat.
KARNATAKA: The BJP wrested Sindgi assembly segment from the JD (S) but lost the Hangal seat to the Congress.
MADHYA PRADESH: The BJP wrested two assembly seats from the Congress — Prithvipur by a margin of 15,687 votes and Jobat (ST) by a margin of 6,104 votes, but lost Raigoan (SC) seat to the opposition party.
BJP candidate Gyaneshwar Patil defeated Congress Rajnarayan Singh Purni in Khandwa Lok Sabha seat.
MAHARASHTRA: Congress retained Deglur (SC) Assembly seat with the party nominee Jitesh Raosaheb Antapurkar defeating his nearest BJP rival Subhash Pirajirao Sabne by a margin of 41,917 votes.
The by-election was necessitated due to the death of Jitesh’s father and sitting Congress MLA Raosaheb Antapurkar.
MEGHALAYA: The NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance got a shot in the arm, as it clinched all three assembly seats.
The National People’s Party wrested Rajabala and Mawryngkneng seats from the Congress, while the United Democratic Party, a partner in the MDA government, emerged victorious in Mawphlang, Chief Electoral Officer FR Kharkongor said.
MIZORAM: The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) won the by-election to the Tuirial assembly seat in Mizoram by securing 39.96 percent of the total 14,593 votes polled.
RAJASTHAN: The ruling Congress party in Rajasthan wrested Dhariawad (ST) from the BJP and retained Vallabhnagar assembly seat.
WEST BENGAL: Udayan Guha wrested Dinhata seat vacated by Union Minister of State for Home, Sports and Youth Affairs Nisith Pramanik by a margin of over 1.64 lakh votes.
TMC’s Subrata Mondal trounced his BJP rival Palash Rana by over 1.43 lakh votes in Gosaba.
TMC’s Braja Kishor Goswami wrested Santipur from the BJP, defeating Niranjan Biswas.
Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, a Mamata Banerjee confidant who had vacated the Bhabanipur seat for her to contest in a by-poll earlier, won from Khardaha defeating his BJP rival Joy Sinha by 93,832 votes.
