Picking up the threads of its winning spree in the recently held Assembly polls, the BJP on Thursday won five Assembly bypolls in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Assam with the Congress bagging three seats, including two seats from Karnataka. The JMM and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) won one seat each in Jharkhand and West Bengal respectively.
Byelections were held in ten Assembly constituencies in eight States on Sunday. The ten seats are: Rajouri Garden (Delhi), litipara (Jharkhand), Nanjangud and Gundlupet (Karnataka), Dholpur (Rajasthan), Kanthi Dakshin (West Bengal), Ater and Bandhavgarh (Madhya Pradesh), Bhoranj (Himachal Pradesh) and Dhemaji (Assam).
The BJP’s overall performance is seen excellent as the party retained three of its current seats and added two more to its kitty. It victory in Himachal Pradesh is specifically significant since Assembly elections are due in the Hilly State next year.
Win in Karnataka was solace for the Congress where it retained both the seats. Assembly election in Karnataka is due in 2018.
The Congress retained its seat in Madhya Pradesh’s Ater in a close fight with the BJP, which retained its Bandhavgarh Assembly seat after defeating the Congress by margin of over 25,000 votes.
TMC candidate Chandrima Bhattacharya won the bypoll from the Kanthi Dakshin Assembly constituency defeating her nearest BJP rival Sourindra Mohan Jana by 42,526 votes. The left and the Congress candidates were relegated to the third and fourth positions respectively.
Bhattacharya secured 95,369 votes while the BJP candidate bagged 52,843 votes compared to 15,000 votes polled by the party candidate in last Assembly election.
left Front-supported CPI candidate Uttam Pradhan secured 17,423 votes, which is only 10 per cent of the total votes polled.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won the littipara constituency where its candidate Simon Marandi won against his nearest BJP rival Hemlalal Murmu by a margin of 12,900 votes. In Himachal Pradesh, BJP candidate Dr Anil Dhiman won the Bhoranj (SC) Assembly seat by defeating his nearest Congress rival Promila Devi by 8,290 votes.
Dhiman polled 24,453 votes against 16,144 votes polled by Devi while Pawan Chandel, a BJP rebel who contested as an Independent, polled 4,630 votes.
The showing was good for the BJP in Assam also where its candidate Ranoj Pegu won the Dhemaji Assembly byelection defeating his nearest Congress rival Babul Sonowal by 9,285 votes.
The BJP had won 60 of 126 Assembly seats in Assam and formed the Government in partnership with its pre-poll alliance partners last year.
The ruling Congress retained its hold over Karnataka, winning Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly seats.
Congress’ Kalale N Keshavamurthy defeated his nearest rival V Srinivas Prasad (BJP) by over 21,000 votes in Nanjangud.
In Gundlupet, Geetha Mahadevaprasad (Cong) trounced BJP’s C S Niranjan Kumar by over 10,000 votes, an election official said.
In Rajasthan, the BJP won Dholpur Assembly byelection, with its candidate Shobha Rani Kushwah defeating her nearest rival of Congress Banwari lal Sharma with a record margin of 38,678 votes.
With this win, the BJP’s tally increased to 161 in the Assembly of 200.
Shobha Rani got 91,548 votes against Congress candidate Sharma’s 52875 votes, scoring a vote percentage of 62.15.
In the 2013 Assembly polls, the seat had been bagged by Shobha Rani’s husband Bl Kushwah, who had contested on a BSP ticket.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the “impressive performance” of the BJP in the Assembly bypolls.
He thanked the people for their “unwavering faith in politics of development and good governance”.
“Impressive performance by @BJP4India and NDA in the by- polls in different parts of the country. Congratulations to Karyakartas,” Modi tweeted.
“I thank the people for the constant support, blessings & unwavering faith in politics of development and good governance,” he added in another tweet.