BJP sweeps Assam, MP; TMC takes West Bengal; AIADMK in Tamil Nadu
The results of bypolls to four Lok Sabha and nine Assembly seats will boost the morale of BJP as the party has cleaned sweeped Madhya Pradesh and Assam.
Counting of votes took place on Tuesday for four Lok Sabha and eight Assembly Constituencies, spread across six States and one Union Territory where by-elections were held on Saturday.
In Assam
BJP won both the Lok Sabha and the Baithalangso assembly seats.
Party candidate Pradan Barua won the Lakhaimpur LS seat by a margin of 1,90,219 votes defeating his nearest rival Congress’s Hema Prasanga Pegu by a convincing 1,90,219 votes, the returning officer said.
BJP retained the seat, which was earlier held by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal who quit it to contest the Majuli assembly seat in April this year and take on the reins of the state.
Mansing Rongpi won the Baithalangso Assembly seat. While he retained the seat, BJP won the seat as the contestant had resigned from Congress to join it in July which necessitated the by-poll this year.
In Madhya Pradesh
BJP clinches both the Lok Sabha and the Nepanagar assembly seat.
BJP retained Shahdol (ST) Lok Sabha seat with its candidate, Madhya Pradesh minister Gyan Singh, defeating Congress’ Himadri Singh by a margin of 60,383 votes in the by-election.
Gyan Singh bagged 4,81,398 votes while his Congress rival polled 4,21,015 ballots, an election official said.
However, the BJP’s victory margin in Shahdol has been substantially reduced from 2,41,301 in the 2014 general election to 60,383 this year.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had frequented Shahdol to ensure that BJP retains the seat as he did not want to give any chance to his rivals to attack him, given that his party had failed to retain the Ratlam-Jhabua Lok Sabha seat by-poll in November last year.
Congress had fielded Himadri Singh, daughter of former Union Minister Dalbir Singh and ex-MP Rajesh Nandini Singh from Shahdol Lok Sabha seat.
However, BJP nominated senior minister in the Cabinet and tribal leader Gyan Singh from the reserve seat. He had also won the seat earlier in 1996 and 1998.
A total of 17 candidates were in fray for the Shahdol by-poll.
The Shahdol LS seat by-election was necessitated due to death of sitting BJP MP Dalpat Singh Paraste.
In West Bengal
All three seats — two Lok Sabha seats and the Monteshwar assembly seat — retained by the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Trinamool Congress retained the two Lok Sabha seats and one assembly seat in West Bengal where by-poll was held on November 19 with its candidates winning by massive margin.
TMC candidate Dibyendu Adhikari won Tamluk Lok Sabha seat by defeating his nearest CPI(M) rival Mandira Panda by 4.97 lakh votes, up from 2.5 lakh votes in 2014.
The party won the Coochbehar LS seat with its candidate Parthapratim Roy drubbing his nearest rival BJP’s Hemchandra Burman by a margin of 4.9 lakh votes and pushed Forward Bloc, a Left Front partner to the third position.
In Monteswar assembly seat, Saikat Panja of TMC won the seat by a margin of 1.27 lakh votes over his nearest CPI(M) rival Md Osman Gani Sarkar. The CPI(M), Congress and BJP lost their deposits in the polls.
TMC’S winning margin in the May 2016 assembly polls was a mere 786 votes when Congress and CPI(M) fought unitedly.
In Tripura
The CPI(M) wons both Barjala and Khowai assembly seats.
The ruling CPI-M in Tripura won both Assembly seats, Barjala (SC) and Khowai, by defeating Congress and TMC candidates respecitively. CPI-M candidate Jhumu Sarkar trounced his nearest BJP rival Shistamohan Das by a margin of 3,374 votes in Barjala (SC) constituency. CPI-M secured 15,769 votes, while BJP garnered 12,395 votes.
In Arunachal Pradesh
The North East Democratic Alliance’s candidate, who contested on a BJP ticket, wins the Hayuliang assembly seat.
In Arunachal Pradesh, Dasanglu Pul, wife of former chief minister Kalikho Pul, who committed suicide in August, won Hayuliang Assembly seat as a BJP candidate. The BJP has joined the state government after chief minister Pema Khandu broke away from the Congress party.
In Tamil Nadu
AIADMK retained the Thanjavur assembly seat, and holds the lead for the Aravakkurichi and Thirupparankundram seats.
AIADMK retained the Thanjavur Assembly constituency by a margin of over 25,000 votes and was surging ahead in two other segments in Tamil Nadu.
In Thanjavur, AIADMK candidate M Rengasamy won by a comfortable margin of over 25,000 votes against DMK candidate Anjugham Boopathy. At the end of the 20th and final round, Rengasamy secured 1,01,362 votes, while Boopathy polled 74,488 votes out of the total 1,86,444 votes.
In Aravakkurichi, AIADMK’s V Senthil Balaji was won by a good margin over his nearest DMK rival K C Palanisamy.
In Thirupparankundram Assembly segment, AIADMK candidate A K Bose was won by a comfortable margin over his nearest rival, DMK candidate P Saravanan.
