Bypolls 2021: It's a mixed bag for BJP
By-elections to 3 LS and 29 Assembly seats in 13 States & a UT reflects a varied picture of Indian political landscape; However, it bolstered confidence of Cong, TMC
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Hyderabad: The Trinamool Congress has swept all four Assembly seats in West Bengal with Udayan Guha winning the Dinhata seat, previously held by the BJP, by a margin of 1,63,005 votes. Similarly, candidate Subrata Mondal clinched the Gosaba Assembly seat by a massive margin of 1,43,051 votes. TMC also won in the Khardah and Santipur assembly segments by a margin of 93,832 and 64,675 votes, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Congress party swept the Himachal and Rajasthan bypolls. The party won all three Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh — Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai — as well as the Mandi Lok Sabha seat. In Rajasthan, the party won both the Dhariawad and Vallabhnagar assembly constituencies with margins of 18,725 and 20,606 votes, respectively. It also reclaimed Madhya Pradesh's Raigaon, a traditional BJP seat, after 31 years. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinched Jobat, a reserved ST seat, and the Prithvipur assembly seat. It is leading in the Khandwa Lok Sabha seat. The BJP and its ally UPPL have claimed victory in all five Assembly seats in Assam. The saffron party also wrested Telangana's Huzurabad from the ruling TRS. Andhra Pradesh's ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) retained the Badvel Assembly seat with a huge margin of over 90,000 votes.
A win and a loss in Karnataka byelection might not have affected the prospects of BJP, but it has put Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's leadership in question as the party has faced an embarrassing defeat in his home district Haveri.
A win for BJP in Hanagal was crucial for Bommai to emerge as the tallest leader in Karnataka, especially after BS Yediyurappa had vacated the Chief Minister's chair.
This was also the first election BJP fought with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai as its face. Bommai, along with at least 20 BJP ministers and MLAs, camped in Hanagal for several days and campaigned which clearly showed that a win there was crucial for the Chief Minister.
The ruling Janata Dal (United) has won both the Assembly seats in Bihar. JD(U)'s Aman Bhushan Hajari won Kusheshwar Asthan over RJD's Ganesh Bharti by a margin of 12,695. In Tarapur, Rajeev Kumar Singh won over RJD's Arun Kumar by a margin of 3,852 votes.
The National People's Party (NPP) wrested Rajabala and Mawryngkneng seats from the Congress, while the United Democratic Party, a partner in the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government, emerged victorious in Mawphlang, Chief Electoral Officer FR Kharkongor said.
Congress's Jitesh Antapurkar is close to comfortably bagging the keenly faught Maharashtra's Deglur Assembly bypoll, leading by 39,400 votes over BJP's Subhash Sabane at the end of Round 27. The bypoll was nessesitated by his father Raosaheb Antapurkar's death.
Shiv Sena candidate Kalaben Delkar, the wife of former independent MP late Mohan Delkar, won the by-election to the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabh seat. MP Sanjay Raut hailed the victory as, "First step outside Maharashtra, giant leap towards Delhi via Dadra Nagar Haveli."
At A Glance: Who Won & Who Lost?
- Himachal Pradesh: BJP lost all 4 seats to Congress
- West Bengal: TMC wins 4 seats
- Assam: BJP, allies win all 5 seats
- Telangana: BJP candidate Eatela Rajender won against ruling TRS in Huzurabad Assembly constituency
- AP: YSRCP retains Badvel Assembly with majority of over 90,000 votes
- Karnataka: Jolt to Karnataka CM Bommai as Congress snatches Hanagal seat from BJP
- Bihar: JDU candidate Aman Hajari defeated RJD's Ganesh Bharti with a margin of 12,698 votes in Kusheshwar Asthan Assembly constituency
- Haryana: Abhay Singh Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won Ellenabad in BJP-JJP ruled Haryana with a margin of 6,708 votes.
- Mizoram: The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) on Tuesday wrested the Tuirial Assembly seat from the Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) and increased its strength to 28 in the 40-member assembly
- Dadra & Nagar Haveli(UT): Kalavati Delkar's historic win by 50k votes in the Lok Sabha bypoll of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Kalavati is Shiv Sena candidate and the widow of late Mohan Delkar
- MP: BJP's Sulochana Rawat won Jobat Assembly with a margin of 6,080 votes against Congress' Mahesh Rawat Patel
- Rajasthan: The ruling Congress won 2 Assembly seats- Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad segments