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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fresh from the BJP’s biggest ever victory in Gujarat, hailed the bypoll results in Rampur and Kurhani saying the people’s affection was visible in the twin wins. “This affection towards BJP is also visible in the by-elections of different states of the country. BJP has won in UP’s Rampur. The performance of the BJP in the Bihar by-elections is giving a clear message of the days to come,” the prime minister said even as the ruling BJP in UP lost the Khatauli seat to SP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
The Congress, meanwhile, retained its two assembly seats – Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh and Sardarshahar assembly seat in Rajasthan’s Churu district. The party is in power in both states. The Biju Janata Dal continued its dominance in Odisha, winning the Padampur assembly seat in Bargarh district.
Out of the six assembly seats in five states where bypolls were held on Monday, the Congress and the BJP won two each while one each went to the BJD and RLD after counting of votes on Thursday.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav termed his party’s ‘historic win’ in Mainpuri as a true tribute to SP founder and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav and asserted that the results have energised party workers for the 2024 parliamentary elections. Dimple, too, thanked her supporters and dedicated her win to ‘Netaji’.
“I want to thank all the supporters of the Samajwadi Party, who worked rigorously for our victory. I also want to thank the people of Mainpuri for believing in me. This victory is a tribute to Netaji (late Mulayam Singh Yadav),” Dimple said after her win. She defeated her nearest rival and BJP candidate Raghuraj Singh Shakya by 2,88,461 votes.
Considered the SP’s bastion, the seat was held by Mulayam Singh and got vacated after his death on October 10. In 2019, he had won the Mainpuri seat by defeating BJP candidate Prem Singh Shakya by 94,389 votes. Dimple not only scripted a massive win, but also brought her family together as Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav merged his Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSPL) into the SP. Akhilesh presented the SP flag to him in Saifai, indicating that the two leaders had buried the hatchet in the face of Dimple’s victory.
The win would provide some solace to Akhilesh Yadav after the defeat in the UP assembly elections early this year and the loss of Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in June bypolls.
BJP wins in Azam Khan’s Rampur for the first time
But the SP could not repeat a winning performance in Rampur Sadar, which went to the BJP for the first time as its candidate Akash Saxena defeated his rival Asim Raja. Saxena, who won by a margin of 33,702 votes, has been handed over the winner’s certificate by the returning officer.
The bypoll on this assembly seat was necessitated after Khan was sentenced to three years in jail in a hate speech case, and subsequently disqualified as an MLA. Khan will be unable to contest elections for the next six years due to his conviction.
But RLD’s Madan Bhaiya defeated his BJP rival Rajkumari Saini by a margin of over 22,000 votes in Khatauli. Saini is the wife of former BJP MLA Vikram Singh whose disqualification from the state assembly following his conviction in a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case necessitated the by-election. Bhaiya polled 97,071 votes, while Saini received 74,996, as per the ECI.
The BJP’s win in Kurhani assembly seat dealt a massive a blow to the Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance. The BJP candidate, Kedar Prasad Gupta, defeated Manoj Singh Kushwaha of the JD(U) by 3,645 votes in a cliffhanger of a contest. Gupta polled 76,653 votes while Kushwaha finished with 73,008 votes. The by-election was necessitated by the disqualification of RJD MLA Anil Kumar Sahani. The JD(U) had snapped ties with the BJP only four months ago.
“I congratulate all the workers of @BJP4Bihar and @BJP4UP on the grand victory of BJP in Bihar’s Kurhani assembly by-election and Rampur assembly by-election in Uttar Pradesh. Many thanks to the public for this support and trust,” union minister Amit Shah tweeted, in a reaction to the saffron party’s twin victories in the bypolls.
But even though the BJP won the Muslim-dominated Rampur Sadar seat, UP’s unit chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said the results in Mainpuri and Khatauli were not as per the party’s expectations and the reasons behind the loss will be assessed.
“The results of the by-elections of Mainpuri Lok Sabha and Khatauli assembly seats have not been as per our expectation but we respect the mandate. Further plans will be made after reviewing the election results,” Chaudhary was quoted as saying in a party release.
On the Mainpuri result, he said Dimple had the advantage of the great personality of Mulayam Singh. “I congratulate Dimple Yadav Ji,” he added.
Congress retains Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan seats
Overall, it was a mildly good news day for the Congress that won both bypolls in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan while the Biju Janata Dal scripted an unassailable win in Odisha’s Padampur assembly seat.
The ruling Congress won the Bhanupratappur assembly bypoll in Chhattisgarh, retaining the seat by defeating the BJP. With this, the opposition BJP has suffered a fifth successive defeat at the hands of the grand old party in the assembly bypolls held after the 2018 Chhattisgarh elections.
Congress candidate Savitri Mandavi won the bypoll by a margin of 21,171 votes against her nearest rival Brahmanand Netam of the BJP, a poll official said. Mandavi, the wife of late MLA Manoj Singh Mandavi whose death necessitated the bypoll, got 65,479 votes while the BJP’s Netam secured 44,308 votes, the official said.
Former IPS officer Akbar Ram Korram, who contested as an independent, gave a spirited fight and polled 23,417 votes. A voter turnout of 71.74 percent was recorded in the bypoll to this seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates and located in the Maoist-affected Kanker district.
Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said people of Bhanupratappur put their stamp of approval to the works done by his government in the last four years. The deceased MLA’s cordial relations with the people of his constituency and efforts for the development of the area also worked in favour of the party, he added.
He thanked the people of Bhanupratappur for reposing faith in his government. He also took a jibe at the BJP and said the opposition party was struggling to even secure the second position as seen in the counting of votes. This victory kept the tally of the Congress in the 90-member state assembly remained unchanged at 71.
Anil Sharma also registered a resounding victory for the Congress in Rajasthan’s Sardarshahar assembly seat in Churu district. He defeated BJP’s Ashok Kumar Pincha by a margin of 26,850 votes with chief minister Ashok Gehlot terming it “people’s seal on his government’s good governance and public welfare schemes”.
This is the 10th time the Congress won the seat since Independence. The bypoll was necessitated following the demise of senior Congress leader and MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma. Expressing gratitude to the voters, Gehlot claimed that the bypoll result was a clear message that the Congress will form the government in Rajasthan in 2023 with an absolute majority.
“Congratulations to Congress candidate Anil Sharma for the victory in the Sardarshahar bypoll and heartfelt gratitude to all voters. This victory is the seal of the public on the transparent, sensitive, accountable good governance and public welfare schemes of the Congress government for education, health and social security,” Gehlot tweeted.
He also said, “In the nine bypolls held in Rajasthan in the last four years, the Congress has won seven seats. The BJP has been able to win only one seat. In these, too, the BJP candidate’s deposit was forfeited on one seat and it landed on the third position in another seat,” adding, “this shows the people of Rajasthan have completely rejected the BJP. No matter how much the BJP lies, the people of Rajasthan are with the truth and, in 2023, the tradition will change and they will make the Congress win again.”
State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra also thanked all the voters and congratulated party workers for Sharma’s victory in the by-election. “The victory margin has increased since the last election. This shows the public has faith in the development works of the state government and in the Congress,” he said.
Deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore said the culture of compassion and empathy had become a political tradition. People had sympathy with the family of the late MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma. “The Congress has won this by-election on a sympathy wave. But a small party such as RLP taking a sizable share of votes is a matter of introspection. We will avenge this defeat in the general election,” he said.
In Odisha’s Padampur, ruling BJD’s Barsha Singh Bariha won by a margin of 42,679 votes defeating the BJP’s Pradip Purohit. Barsha is the daughter of late MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha whose death in October necessitated the bypoll.
(With PTI inputs)
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