Bypoll election results: BJP wins 5 seats, Congress bags 2 in Karnataka; setback for AAP in Delhi

Besides the Srinagar parliamentary seat, by-elections were held in 10 Assembly constituencies in seven states on Sunday. Of these, two seats each are in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

Delhi

Ahead of the MCD polls, the comprehensive victory in the national capital was a major boost for the Bhartiya Janata Party. In the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll, the BJP registered a victory, handing a humiliating defeat to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which finished a distant third. Subsequently AAP even lost its deposit, just like they did following the defeat in the Punjab assembly elections in March.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the joint candidate for BJP-SAD, gave a massive boost to the saffron party by bagging 40,602 seats, over 50 per cent of the total votes polled.

With 25,959 votes, Congress’ Meenakshi Chandela finished second while AAP’s Harjeet Singh managed to get only 10,243 votes.

Madhya Pradesh

In the Bandhavgarh Assembly seat, BJP defeated rival Congress by a margin of over 25,000 votes. According to an election official, BJP nominee Shivnarayan Singh defeated Congress’ Savitri Singh for the assembly seat by 25,476 votes. Following BJP MLA Gyan Singh’s election to the Lok Sabha in November last from Shahdol in a by-election, the bypoll in Bandavgarh was necessitated.

Meanwhile, it a close fight between Congress and BJP in the Ater seat, voting for which was marred by incidences of violence.

Himachal Pradesh

In Himachal Pradesh, the Bhoranj (SC) Assembly seat fell vacant following the death of BJP stalwart and former minister Ishwar Dass Dhiman. There, his son and BJP candidate Dr Anil Dhiman won the seat 8,290 votes.

Dr Dhiman, with 24,453 votes, defeated his nearest Congress rival Promila Devi who polled 16,144 votes, and retained the seat previously held by his father. Pawan Chandel, a BJP rebel who contested as an Independent, polled 4,630 votes.

With this result, BJP’s strength in the 68-member House has increased to 28.

Assam

The BJP continued their strong performance in the bypolls with a victory in Assam as well, with Ranoj Pegu sealing the Dhemaji Assembly by-election. With a total votes of 75,217, the BJP candidate defeated his nearest Congress rival Babul Sonowal by 9,285 votes, who polled 65,932 votes.

The bypoll was necessitated after BJP MLA Pradan Baruah was elected as MP from Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat.

Karnataka

BJP’s winning run was halted in Karnataka as the ruling Congress party won Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly seats, retaining its hold over the state. Both the seats were held by Congress.

In Gundlupet, the bypolls were necessitated following the death of Cooperation Minister Mahadev Prasad whereas in Nanjangud, bypolls were called for after Congress MLA Srinivas Prasad resigned after he was dropped from his ministry.

In Gundlupet, Congress’ Geetha Mahadev Prasad, the wife of the late Cooperation Minister eased to a win against BJP’s C S Niranjan Kumar with a margin of over 10,000 votes.

Meanwhile in Nanjangud, Congress’ Kalale N Keshavamurthy defeated his nearest BJP rival V Srinivas Prasad by over 21,000 votes.

Srinivas Prasad had switched over to BJP from Congress, while Keshavamurthy had contested the 2013 Assembly polls on a JD(S) ticket.

West Bengal

Trinamool Congress candidate Chandrima Bhattacharya won from the Kanthi Dakshin bypoll. Bhattacharya won the bypoll with a staggering 95,369 votes, with a margin of 42,526 votes over BJP’s Sourindra Mohan Jana, who emerged second with 52,843 votes.

The CPI came third with 17,423 votes and the Congress came fourth after it managed to get only 2,270 votes. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee meanwhile said that Chandrima Bhattacharya would be once again inducted into her cabinet of ministers.

Rajasthan

In Rajasthan’s Dholpur Assembly bypoll, BJP candidate Shobha Rani Kushwah was leading by 22,602 votes after ten rounds of counting.. Dholpur seat is the home turf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. It fell vacant after BJP candidate Shobha Rani’s husband BL Kushwah’s membership was terminated after he was convicted of murder.

Earlier on Sunday, polling in Dholpur had come to a stall after EVMs malfunctioned. But in the subsequent repolling, the voting turnout was recorded at over 72 per cent. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also alleged that some of the EVMs could have been tampered with.

Jharkhand

Simon Marandi of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) currently leads from Litipara. Litipara has a high concentration of tribals in the backward Santhal Pargana region and is a stronghold of JMM. The seat fell vacant following the death of JMM MLA Anil Murmu on January 17