BJP wins 3 seats, Oppn parties four with SP capturing prestigious Ghosi
The ruling TMC has wrested the Dhupguri assembly seat in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district from the BJP, while the saffron party retained its Bageshwar seat in Uttarakhand
The by-election results for seven assembly seats in six states declared on Friday (September 8) were a mixed bag for the BJP and the opposition INDIA bloc, with the saffron party winning three seats and one each going to its rivals Congress, JMM and TMC and Samajwadi Party.
The opposition alliance tasted victory in the Ghosi assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh, where it backed the Samajwadi Party, and in Jharkhand, where the JMM retained the Dumri assembly seat.
The BJP maintained its hold on the Bageshwar assembly seat in Uttarakhand and Dhanpur in Tripura and wrested the Boxanagar assembly seat from CPI(M) in the northeastern state, where the INDIA alliance parties had joined hands, but lost the Dhupguri assembly seat in West Bengal to the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
BJP retains Bageshwar seat in Uttarakhand
The BJP has retained the Bageshwar assembly seat in Uttarakhand with its candidate Parwati Dass defeating Congress' Basant Kumar by more than 2,400 votes. Dass polled 33,247 votes while Kumar got 30,842 votes, Bageshwar district magistrate and returning officer Anuradha Pal said.
More than 50 per cent of the total electorate in the assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh's Mau district cast their votes in the polling held on Tuesday. The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Dara Singh Chauhan, who had won the seat in the 2022 UP Assembly polls from the Samajwadi Party in July. He returned to the BJP and was fielded by the party in the bypoll.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chauhan defeated BJP candidate Vijay Kumar Rajbhar by a margin of 22,216 votes.
In the bypoll, Chauhan is being supported by NDA partners Apna Dal (Sonelal), Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) Party and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, a former SP ally. The SP candidate has received support from INDIA bloc constituents - the Congress, CPI(M), CPI, RLD, AAP, CPI(ML)-Liberation and Suheldev Swabhiman Party.
The bypoll will have no bearing on the BJP government, which enjoys a comfortable majority in the 403-member state assembly. However, its outcome could be an indicator of what is in store for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections for the INDIA bloc. Uttar Pradesh sends 80 MPs to the 543-member Lok Sabha.
Tripura: BJP wins both Dhanpur and Boxanagar
The BJP has won both the Dhanpur and Boxanagar Assembly seats in Tripura's Sepahijala district where bypolls were held, according to the Election Commission.
BJP's Tafajjal Hossain won in Boxanagar, while the saffron party’s Bindu Debnath was triumphant in Dhanpur.
Thugbandhan broken, says BJP's Sambit Patra
BJP's Sambit Patra tweeted on the party's Tripura bypolls victory: "In the Tripura by-election, the arrogance of the 'arrogant alliance' has not only been 'broken' but it has also been their 'cruel defeat'. The public has proved their alliance to be a 'thugbandhan'. It fulfills Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji's strong and universally accepted leadership and his basic mantra of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'."
The two assembly constituencies recorded an average turnout of 86.50 per cent. Alleging large-scale rigging during the polling and inaction by the Election Commission, the Opposition CPI(M) boycotted the counting of votes.
The two seats witnessed a direct fight between the ruling BJP and the CPI(M) with the other two Opposition parties, Tipra Motha and Congress, not fielding any candidates.
The Boxanagar seat has 66 per cent minority voters of a total of 43,087 electors. The Dhanpur constituency, once considered a stronghold of the Left, has over 8,000 tribal voters from a total of 50,346 electors. The BJP won the seat for the first time in the Assembly polls held seven months ago.
The BJP has 31 MLAs in the 60-member assembly, and its ally IPFT has one member. While the Opposition Tipra Motha has 13 MLAs, CPI(M) has 10, and the Congress has three MLAs.
Jharkhand: AJSU candidate Yashoda Devi leading in Dumri
JMM candidate Bebi Devi won the by-election to the Dumri assembly seat in Jharkhand's Giridih district defeating AJSU party nominee Yashoda Devi by over 17,000 votes, according to a district administration official.
The JMM candidate, who is also the INDIA block nominee got about 1,35,480 votes, while the NDA candidate Yashoda Devi got about 1,18,380 votes, the official said.
Bebi Devi is the wife of former Jharkhand minister Jagarnath Mahto, whose death in April necessitated the by-election. She termed her victory as a 'true tribute' to Mahto who had represented the seat since 2004. The polling for the by-election was held on September 5. Of the total 2.98 lakh eligible voters, 64.84 per cent had cast their votes.
Earlier, the AJSU candidate Yashoda Devi was leading. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of JMM MLA Jagarnath Mahto, the state's education minister, in April. He had been representing the seat since 2004.
Kerala: UDF's Chandy Oommen wins in Puthuppally
Opposition UDF candidate Chandy Oommen has won comfortably in the Puthuppally seat in Kerala.
Son of the late Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy, he steamed far ahead of his nearest co-contestants. When the four rounds of votes were counted, Oommen got more votes than his nearest political rivals - the LDF's Jaick C Thomas and BJP's Lijin Lal.
Of the total 37,464 votes counted in the initial four rounds, the Congress-UDF candidate got 22,976 votes, according to Election Commission sources. Oommen retained the edge as the counting continued. The bypoll is being seen as politically significant as the Congress aims to retain its traditional stronghold, while the ruling CPI (M) wants to make new inroads by clinching it, as the bypoll comes a few months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The voting for the seat, left vacant by the demise of Oommen Chandy, was held on September 5.
West Bengal: TMC leading in Dhupguri
The ruling TMC wrested the Dhupguri assembly seat in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district on Friday from the BJP in a by-election, officials said.TMC candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy, a college professor, won the seat by over 4,313 votes. He bagged 96,961 votes, while his nearest rival BJP's Tapasi Roy, the widow of a CRPF jawan killed in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir in 2021, got 92,648 votes, they said.CPI(M) candidate Ishwar Chandra Roy, who was backed by the Congress, was at a distant third spot with 13,666, they added.TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said the people of Dhupguri embraced politics of development over hatred and bigotry."Saluting every AITC worker for their tireless efforts in connecting with the people. We're committed to leaving no stone unturned in ensuring Dhupguri's all-round development," he posted on X.BJP's Bishnu Pada Ray won the seat in the 2021 assembly elections, and his death on July 25 necessitated the bypoll.The counting of votes was held amid tight security at the Jalpaiguri II campus of North Bengal University.The polling for the by-election was held on September 5. A voter turnout of 78 per cent was record
(With inputs from agencies)