THE BJP and its allies on Tuesday won 11 Assembly seats while the Congress bagged eight out of 29 seats in the latest round of by-polls, 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 and the Congress, which gained in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, wresting seats from the BJP, but suffered losses in Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya. 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 BJP bagging three seats and its ally United Peoples’ Party Liberal (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. In Rajasthan, where Congress retained one seat and snatched one from the BJP, the BJP 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. Former national footballer Eugeneson Lyngdoh won from Mawphlang constituency in Meghalaya.

 

In Karnataka, the BJP wrested Sindgi 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. 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 final tally in the bypolls is: BJP - seven, its allies JD(U)-two, UPPL - two; Congress - eight, TMC - four, YSRC - one; INLD - one; MNF - one; NPP- two, UPP - one 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.