By-polls, no big gain for parties

NEW DELHI, June 1: The results of the just-concluded by-elections to three Lok Sabha seats and nine Assembly seats in eight states were alo...

NEW DELHI, June 1: The results of the just-concluded by-elections to three Lok Sabha seats and nine Assembly seats in eight states were along expected lines. But for the Janata Dal, which lost three Assembly seats previously held by it (one in Karnataka and two in Orissa), the results brought little cheer.

The Bharatiya Janata Party succeeded in retaining the East Delhi Lok Sabha seat thanks to H K L Bhagat who split the Congress vote and also three Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The Congress, the results were a mixed bag. While it succeeded in wresting the Molakalmuru seat in JD-ruled Karnataka and the Naupada seat in Orissa, the party failed to make any headway in Kerala. It lost the Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat, the battle for which was touted as a referendum on the Left Democratic Front government’s performance.

Interestingly, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda chose not to go to his home state of Karnataka to campaign for the JD candidate in Molakalmuru, and instead sent his lieutenant and Union minister C M Ibrahim. Gowda, who earlier used to visit Karnataka frequently, has stayed away from the State since he stepped down. In Punjab, the Akali Dal (Badal) retained the Qila Raipur Assembly seat in spite of the alliance between the Congress and the CPI(M).

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In Orissa, where the BJP is making inroads into the JD base, the victory in the Aska Lok Sabha seat came as a relief for the latter. Naveen Patnaik (son of the late Biju Patnaik) won by a handsome margin. But in Daspalla (a seat held by the JD earlier), the party came third, with an Independent defeating his nearest rival who was from the Congress.

In Shirdi (Maharashtra), the Shiv Sena candidate defeated Congress by nearly 14,000 votes, while in Andhra Pradesh, the ruling Telugu Desam Party retained the Martur Assembly seat.