Bypoll results: Early trends hint at jolt for BJP, gains for
Congress and SP\
New Delhi: Counting of votes began
early morning on Tuesday for three Lok Sabha and 33 Assembly constituencies
spread across 10 states where bypolls were held on 13 September. Early trends
indicated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was struggling in key states of
Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and even in Gujarat, where it was in a neck and neck
fight with Congress. The ruling BJP was leading in five Assembly seats in
Gujarat, while Congress was ahead on four, according to early trends in
counting of votes for by-polls. In Uttar Pradesh, the ruling Samajwadi Party
(SP) was leading in six seats, while BJP and its ally in four and Congress in
one. In Rajasthan, opposition Congress candidates are leading in three of the
four Assembly constituencies where bypolls were held. The ruling BJP was
leading on the one remaining seat. The three Lok Sabha that went to poll are
Vadodara (Gujarat), vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mainpuri (Uttar
Pradesh) and Medak (Telangana), while 11 assembly constituencies are in Uttar
Pradesh, nine in Gujarat, four in Rajasthan, two in West Bengal, five in
northeastern states and one each in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. Twenty
four of these assembly seats were held by the BJP and one each by its allies
Apna Dal and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). After BJP’s near-total sweep of the
80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in Lok Sabha polls just four months back, it is to be
seen whether the party can retain its 10 seats. Last month, the saffron party
had received a jolt in assembly byepolls, suffering a 4-6 defeat at the hands
of the Rashtriya Janata Dal-Janata Dal (United)-Congress alliance in Bihar and
yielding two strongholds to Congress in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Tuesday’s
bypoll results, seen as yet another test of Modi government’s popularity since
it assumed power in May, are also important as the BJP is preparing for polls in
Haryana and Maharashtra next month where it hopes to oust the Congress. Uttar
Pradesh The SP was leading in six seats, while BJP and its ally in four and
Congress in one, as per initial trends available in Uttar Pradesh where
counting is underway for 11 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat. SP supremo
Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grand nephew Tej Pratap was leading over his nearest
rival BJP’s Prem Singh Shakya in Mainpuri Lok Sabha. The Assembly seats where
bypolls were held include Saharanpur city, Bijnor, Thakurdwara, Noida, Nighasan
Lucknow east, Hamirpur, Charkhari, Sirathu, Balha and Rohania, as also in
Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat which was vacated by Yadav. While the Bahujan Samaj
Party did not contest the bypolls, the Congress and SP fielded candidates on all
11 Assembly seats, whereas the BJP contested on 10 and its ally Apna Dal on
one. Rajasthan Initial trends show that Congress candidates Shrawan Kumar
(Surajgarh), Bhajanlal (Weir) and Ramnarayan (Nasirabad) are leading with vote
margins of 1,325, 8,658 and 167, respectively, whereas only one candidate of
BJP, Sandeep Sharma, is leading on Kota South Seat with a margin of 13,212
votes. Former health minister and BJP candidate Digambar Singh is trailing
behind Shrawan Kumar of Congress in
Surajgarh after 10 rounds of voting. The
bypolls were necessitated after the sitting MLAs—Sanwar Lal Jat (Nasirabad), Om
Birla (Kota-South), Santosh Ahlawat (Surajgarh) and Bahadur Singh Koli
(Weir)—resigned from the Assembly following their election to Lok Sabha. Telangana,
Andhra Pradesh The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has established an
early lead in the counting of votes for bypolls to Medak Lok Sabha constituency
in Telangana, as per initial trends. TRS candidate K. Prabhakar Reddy was ahead
of his nearest Congress rival V. Sunita Laxma Reddy by 18,443 votes after the
first round of counting. BJP candidate T. Jayaprakash Reddy was trailing his
TRS and Congress rivals. TRS got 32,394 votes, Congress and BJP 13,951 and
7014, respectively, in the first round. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) T. Sowmya has
taken a lead of more than 32,000 votes in Nandigama (SC) Assembly bypoll over
her nearest rival Congress’s Bodapati Babu Rao. Sowmya, a software engineer,
got 42,777 votes, while Congress’s Rao secured 10,279 votes after the sixth
round of counting. By-election to Nandigama seat in Krishna district was
necessitated due to death of Sowmya’s father T. Prabhakar days after he was
elected in the May elections. Gujarat Ruling BJP is leading in five Assembly
seats in Gujarat, while Congress is ahead on four, according to early trends in
counting of votes for bypolls in nine constituencies across the state. Initial
rounds of counting indicated a neck and neck fight on at least five seats in
the Assembly elections. The BJP is leading in Anand, Tankara, Maninagar, Talaja
and Limkheda Assembly seats while the Congress is leading in Khambalia, Matar,
Mangrol and Deesa, according to election officials. All the seats were earlier
held by the BJP and were vacated after their sitting MLAs were elected as MPs
including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was three times MLA from Maninagar
seat. The bypolls are also considered to be test for new Gujarat chief minister
Anandiben Patel under whose leadership, the elections are being held for the
first time. West Bengal The TMC and Congress are leading in Basirhat Dakhin and
Chowringhee Assembly constituencies in West Bengal. Dipendu Biswas of TMC is
leading over BJP’s Samik Bhattacharya in Basirhat Dakhin seat by 10,820 votes
after the fourth round of counting. The seat was won by Communist Party of
India (Maoist)’s Narayan Mukhopadhyay in 2011. The by-election was caused due
to his death. Santosh Pathak of Congress is leading over TMC’s Nayana
Bandyopadhyay in Chowringhee seat by 2,000 votes after the third round.
Bandyopadhyay is the wife of Sudip Bandyopadhyay, leader of the Trinamool
Congress parliamentary party. BJP state secretary and spokesman Ritesh Tiwary
is also among the contestants from the Chowringhee seat. The seat was won by
TMC’s Sikha Mitra in the 2011 Assembly elections. The by-election was held as
the seat fell vacant after Mitra’s resignation from the TMC. The fate of 14
candidates would be decided on Tuesday—nine in the Chowringhee constituency and
five in Basirhat Dakshin in North 24-Parganas district. Tripura CPI-M candidate
Prabhat Chowdhury trounced his nearest Congress candidate Mailafru Mog by
15,971 votes in the Manu (ST) Assembly constituency of Tripura. While CPI-M
candidate secured 21,759 votes, the Congress aspirant secured 5,788 votes,
Joint chief electoral officer Debasish Modak said. The constituency fell vacant
after former industries and commerce minister Jitendra Chowdhury was elected to
the Lok Sabha. Assam Counting for bypolls to Silchar, Lakhipur and Jamunamukh
Assembly constituencies of Assam is underway to decide the fate of 25
contestants. The bypolls was necessitated following the election of Silchar
Congress MLA Sushmita Dev and Jamunamukh All India United Democratic Front
(AIUDF) MLA Mohammad Sirajuddin Ajmal to the Lok Sabha during the last general
elections. The death of sitting Congress MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala necessitated
the bypoll in Lakhipur. Twelve candidates were in the fray from Silchar,
followed by eight contestants at Jamunamukh and five from Lakhipur,
respectively. While Arun Dutta Majumdar (Congress), Dilip Kumar Paul (BJP) and
Nur Ahmed Barbhuyan (AIUDF) are among the prominent contestants in Silchar,
former Congress MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala’s son Rajdeep Goala (Congress), Mukesh
Pandey (AIUDF) and Sanjay Thakur (BJP) are notable candidates in Lakhipur.
Jamunamukh has AIUDF president Badruddin Ajmal’s son Abdur Rahim Ajmal, Bashir
Uddin Laskar (Congress) and Bilal Uddin (BJP) in the fray
VIKASH CHANDRA MISHRA
PGDM 2ND YEAR
SOURCE : MINT
