Ahead of the assembly election in five states and Lok Sabha polls, the BJP and the Opposition INDIA alliance have evenly matched each other in the by-elections to the seven seats that took place on Tuesday with BJP winning three seats - two in Tripura, one in Uttarakhand-but losing its seats in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
Congress won its lone seat in Puthuppally bypoll in Kerala under the banner of United Democratic Front (UDF) vis-a-vis the nominee of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the CPM.
While the BJP has won the Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly seats in Tripura and Bageswhar in Uttarakhand, the Opposition bloc has won in Jharkhand's Dumri, Puthupally in Kerala and Dhugpuri in West Bengal. The Dhanpur bypoll in Tripura had been necessitated due to the resignation of the BJP's Pratima Bhoumik from the seat, after she chose to continue as an MP and Union Minister of State. The Boxanagar bypoll had to be held due to the death of its sitting MLA, the CPI(M)'s Samsul Haque.The BJP victories in Tripura bypoll has consolidated saffron hold over the North-East state and further marginalised the left which dominated the state over three-decades. The BJP, however received set backs in UP's Ghosi and West Bengal's Dhupguri Assembly seats (won by it last assembly polls) by losing them to the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Trinamul Congress (TMC) These bypolls are seen as a significant test for the opposition alliance INDIA against the ruling BJP-led NDA, with implications for upcoming five state elections- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Mizoram- and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The by-elections have witnessed trial of electoral strength between the NDA and the INDIA alliance in certain constituencies, notably Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh and Dumri in Jharkhand.