BJP sweeps by-polls
PATNA, Nov 10:
An edge of seat contest unfolded tonight in Bihar as the ruling NDA appeared inching towards a simple majority in the 243-member Assembly and the RJD-led opposition alliance giving it a run for its money.
Of the 170 results declared so far, 84 have gone in favour of the ruling coalition headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and 79 to rival Grand Alliance.
NDA candidates were leading in 38 places and opposition nominees in 34.
If the present results and trends available are any indication of things to come, the NDA will end up with 122 seats, just the half-way mark required to form the Government, and the opposition Mahagathbandhan 113.
Any slip-up at the last moment with throw up a hung Assembly and bolster the RJD’s claim of being invited first to form the Government being the single largest party.
However, it will depend on the Governor whether he decides to invite the single largest party or the biggest pre-poll alliance to form the Government first in the event of a hung House.
The RJD looks set to emerge as the single-largest party in the House with 77 seats, having won 55 and leading in 22.
The BJP, which has won 48 seats and is leading in 24, will finish second with 72 seats likely in its kitty.
The AIMIM of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has sprung a surprise, clinching four seats in the Seemanchal region having a large Muslim population and is leading in one seat. Its Grand Democratic Secular Front (GDSF) ally, the BSP, has pocketed one seat.
Chirag Paswan’s LJP, which had walked out of the NDA just ahead of the polls and gone to the hustings alone, finally opened its account, winning just one seat. It is not leading in any of the seats where results are pending.
An Independent candidate also won.
Meanwhile, BJP today was set to sweep the Assembly by-elections held last week with leads and wins in 40 of 59 seats across 11 States, including Madhya Pradesh where it cemented its rule by winning 16 seats and was poised to add three more.
India’s ruling party wrested all the eight seats from the Congress in Gujarat and retained its six constituencies in Uttar Pradesh that went to the polls in the first pan-India electoral exercise in the pandemic, according to the Election Commission data at 10.30 pm.
If the by-elections spelt a big win for the BJP, it seemed dismal for the Congress, particularly in Madhya Pradesh where it earlier had sittings MLAs in 27 seats out of 28.
However, it did have a few scattered wins, including in BJP-ruled Haryana where it retained its Baroda seat with its candidate Indu Raj Narwal defeating BJP nominee and Olympian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt.
Overall, the Congress, which had sitting MLAs in over 40 seats, won nine seats and was leading in three.
The JD(U) was leading in Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha by-election in Bihar.
The votes for the November 3 by-elections were counted along with the ballots for the Bihar polls and progressed in accordance with Election Commission guidelines restricting the number of people in counting halls, officials said. Extensive measures were taken to ensure social distancing.
MADHYA PRADESH
The BJP Government, which needed eight MLAs for a simple majority, has won 16 out the 28 Assembly seats in MP where bypolls were held and was leading in three others.
A buoyed Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the outcome proves that voters supported the decision taken by the Congress MLAs to pull down the previous Kamal Nath dispensation.
The BJP came to power in March after the collapse of the Congress-led Government following a revolt by a section of Congress MLAs led by Jyotiraditya Scindia. The Congress has secured victory on one seat and was leading in eight constituencies.
In the 230-member house, the BJP tally has increased to 123, breaching the simple majority mark of 116 and providing stability to the Government.
MP Congress president Kamal Nath accepted the defeat and said the party made efforts to reach out to people.
“We accept the mandate. We made every effort to reach out to voters. I also thank all voters who participated in the by-elections,” Nath said in a tweet.
The party won six seats in MP and was leading in three.
GUJARAT
The ruling BJP on Tuesday won all the eight assembly seats in Gujarat where by-elections were held, dealing a blow to the opposition Congress which had bagged these constituencies in 2017.
The BJP’s tally in the 182-member Assembly has now reached 111.
Eight Congress MLAs had resigned before the Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat, and five of them, who were given tickets by the BJP, won on Tuesday.
They are Pradhyumansinh Jadeja (who won from Abdasa seat), Brjesh Merja (Morbi), Akshay Patel (Karjan), Jitu Chaudhari (Kaprada) and J V Kakadiya (Dhari).
On the Limbdi seat in Surendranagar district, former minister Kiritsinh Rana of the BJP, who lost in 2017, defeated Congress’ Chetan Khachar.
On the Scheduled Tribe-reserved Dangs seat, BJP candidate Vijay Patel was declared the winner by the EC.
The BJP’s Dalit leader and former minister Atmaram Parmar, who had lost in the last election, defeated Mohan Solanki of the Congress on the Gadhada (SC) seat in Botad district.
As party workers broke into celebrations and burst firecrackers at its headquarters in Gandhinagar, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani told reporters his party’s performance was a “trailer” for the upcoming elections to local bodies and the 2022 assembly polls. .
“Today, BJP has emerged victorious across the country, whether it is Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh or Gujarat. This outcome is the result of the work done by Narendra Modi government and the support of people for the BJP,” Rupani said.
UTTAR PRADESH
The BJP, which already has a comfortable majority in the UP Assembly, retained six seats and the SP hung on to its Malhani constituency in the bypolls for seven assembly seats, the 6:1 outcome indicating that the ruling party continued its hold over the populous state.
BJP candidate Sangeeta Chauhan won in Naugawan Sadat, Usha Sirohi in Bulandshahr, Prem Pal Dhangar in Tundla, Shrikant Katiyar in Bangarmau, Satya Prakash Mani Tripathi in Deoria and Upendra Nath Paswan in Ghatampur, according to the Election Commission.
Samajwadi Party’s Lucky Yadav won Malhani, the seat which was represented by his father Parasnath Yadav, whose death necessitated the by-election. He defeated independent candidate Dhananjay Singh by 4,632 votes.
A tough see-saw battle was fought for the Naugawan Sadat seat held earlier by Chetan Chauhan, the former cricketer who was a minister in Yogi Adityanath’s BJP government.
MANIPUR
According to Election Commission, the BJP had won four seats and one was bagged by an Independent. The by-elections were necessitated as Congress MLAs quit the party to join the BJP.
KARNATAKA
The ruling BJP won both the seats for which by-elections were held, wresting Sira from the JD(S) and Rajarajeshwari Nagar from the Congress. It created history by recording its first-ever victory in the Sira assembly segment Dr C M Rajesh Gowda winning with a margin of over 12,000 votes.
In R R Nagar, N Munirathana emerged winner with a margin of over 58,000 votes against his nearest Congress rival Kusuma.
The elections were necessitated by the death of Sira JD(S) MLA B Satyanarayana in August and the resignation of RR Nagar Congress MLA Munirathna from the assembly last year.
JHARKHAND
The JMM-led ruling coalition of Jharkhand retained Dumka and Bermo assembly seats, albeit with reduced margins from the 2019 state polls.
JMM candidate Basant Soren, who is the younger brother of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, defeated his nearest BJP rival Lois Marandi, a former minister, by 6,842 votes, in Dumka seat.
The winning margin of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha reduced almost by half compared to what it was in last year’s assembly election.
In Bermo constituency, Kumar Jayamangal alias Anup Singh of the Congress defeated Yogeshwar Mahto “Batul”, his nearest BJP rival, by a margin of 14,225 votes.
ODISHA
The state’s ruling Biju Janata Dal won both the Balasore and Tirtol seats for which by-elections were held.
HARYANA
In a big win for the Congress, its candidate Indu Raj Narwal defeated the BJP’s candidate, Olympian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, in the Baroda assembly seat in BJP-ruled Haryana.
The Congress retained the seat with Narwal winning by over 10,000 votes, said officials.
“The victory of Indu Raj Narwal is a win of farmers and labourers. I assure residents of Baroda that the Congress will live up to their expectations,” tweeted Congress leader Kumari Selja.
CHHATTISGARH
The ruling Congress won the Marwahi Assembly bypoll, necessitated by the death of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) founder Ajit Jogi.
Congress candidate Dr K K Dhruw won by 38,197 votes.
TELANGANA
The BJP wrested the Dubbak Assembly constituency from the ruling TRS in Telangana.
BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao defeated his nearest rival Solipeta Sujatha of the ruling TRS by 1,079 votes.
Sujata was the wife of sitting TRS MLA Solipeta Ramalinga Reddy whose death in August this year led to the bypolls.
NAGALAND
The National Democratic Progressive Party bagged the Southern Angami-I seat in Kohima while an Independent candidate won in the Pungro-Kiphire assembly segment in Kiphire district. (PTI)
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