The Opposition parties under the banner of INDIA Bloc on Saturday won 10 out of the 13 Assembly seats that went to polls on Wednesday across seven States. While the TMC swept West Bengal, winning all four seats, the Congress secured two out of the three seats in Himachal Pradesh.
The bypoll results of Himachal Pradesh ensured that for the first time in the electoral history of the State, a husband and wife — CM Sukhvinder Sukhu and Kamlesh Thakur — would be members of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly. In another first, there will not be a single Independent MLA in the State Assembly.
The grand old party also claimed victory in two seats in Uttarakhand, including Badrinath that went to polls on July 10. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged victorious in the lone seat in Punjab while the one seat which went to bypolls in Bihar was secured by an Independent candidate.
Bypolls for 13 Assembly seats were held in Punjab (1), Himachal Pradesh (3), Uttarakhand (2), West Bengal (4), Madhya Pradesh (1), Bihar (1) and Tamil Nadu (1). Bypolls are seen as significant test for the Opposition INDIA Bloc as it faced off against the BJP-led NDA in first electoral battle after Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh said the results of the Assembly elections in Uttarakhand “reflect the changing political climate in the country”.
The DMK emerged victorious in the bypoll to the Vikravandi Assembly constituency against NDA constituent Pattali Makkal Katchi. The by-election was necessitated due to the death of DMK legislator N Pugazhenthi in April this year. The DMK-led alliance had won all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry segment in the 2024 Parliamentary elections.
The AAP retained the Jalandhar West Assembly seat with its candidate Mohinder Bhagat defeating BJP’s Sheetal Angural by 37,325 votes in the bypoll, in a boost for Punjab’s ruling party following its drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls. The bypoll to this reserve Assembly segment was necessitated following the resignation of Angural as AAP legislator. He joined the BJP in March.
With this victory, the AAP will now have 91 MLAs in the 117-member Punjab Assembly. The Congress has 15 MLAs, SAD three, BJP two, BSP one and one Independent.
Further, resigning and switching to the BJP proved costly for two Independent legislators of Himachal Pradesh who lost to Congress candidates from their seats.
Congress’ Hardeep Singh Bawa defeated his nearest rival and BJP candidate KL Thakur in the bypoll to the Nalagarh Assembly seat by 8,990 votes. Bawa is a five-time Indian National Trade Union Congress president.
BJP’s Ashish Sharma, however, managed to win the assembly bypolls from Hamirpur seat from nearest rival and Congress candidate Pushpender Verma.
In the 2022 Assembly elections in the state, three Independents namely Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh) were elected but they resigned after voting for BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha election on February 27. Six Congress rebels had also cross-voted for the BJP nominee in the election and later joined the saffron party.
“There was anger among the electorate against the Independents who vacated their seats to join the BJP,” HP Congress president Pratibha Singh said, claiming this to be a reason behind her party’s win in the Dehra and Nalagarh bypolls on Saturday.
TMC wrested Raiganj, Bagda and Ranaghat Dakshin assembly seats from the BJP and secured an unassailable lead in the Maniktala segment in West Bengal bypolls, continuing its winning streak a month after the party’s resounding victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
Madhuparna Thakur, daughter of TMC Rajya Sabha MP and Matua leader Mamatabala Thakur, won by a margin of 33,455 votes over her rival Binay Kumar Biswas of the BJP in the Bagda assembly seat in North 24 Parganas district.
With this victory, the ruling party in West Bengal won the Matua community-majority Bagda and Ranaghat Dakshin after a gap of eight years. The BJP secured Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, and Raiganj segments in the 2021 assembly polls.
Congress’s Lakhpat Singh Butola won the Badrinath assembly in Uttarakhand by-election defeating his nearest rival former minister and MLA BJP’s Rajendra Singh Bhandari.
Further, BJP’s Kamlesh Shah won the Amarwara (ST) seat in Madhya Pradesh by a margin of over 3,200 votes after trailing in a number of rounds. Shah defeated his nearest Congress rival Dheeran Shah Invati by a margin of 3,252 votes.
