Kalyan gives BJP wake-up call

NEW DELHI, MAY 29: Warning bells are ringing for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Barely 16 months before the Assembly elections in Uttar Prade...

NEW DELHI, MAY 29: Warning bells are ringing for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Barely 16 months before the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh’s Rashtriya Kranti Party pushed the ruling BJP candidate to the fourth place in the by-election for the Soron seat to open its account in the State Assembly.

RKP candidate Devendra Pratap snatched victory from the BSP nominee by a meagre 195 votes. The SP came third and the Congress fifth, indicating once again the declining influence of the two national parties in electoral politics.

Soron in the Etah district of UP, has a sizeable Lodh population and the RKP’s victory at the cost of the BJP as well as the SP suggests that the Kalyan Singh-Ajit Singh axis, which is in the making, may pose a serious challenge to both parties in western UP in the coming months.

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The shock to the BJP in UP apart, the results of this round of by-elections, which includes one to the Lok Sabha and 11 to state assemblies across the country, were more or less along expected lines with ruling parties in different states holding their ground.

The BJP notched up a tally of zero, failing to win even in Madhya Pradesh where the Congress nominee, wife of slain State Transport Minister Likhiram Kaware, bagged more than double the number of votes of her BJP rival. All the other nominees lost their deposit in the sympathy wave that seems to have swept the constituency.

In Bihar, predictably Chief Minister Rabri Devi scored a huge victory from Raghopur, a seat vacated by husband Laloo Prasad Yadav. The Haryana Assembly will have the unique distinction of having two fathers and their sons as its members simultaneously following election of Abhay Singh Chautala, chief minister’s O P Chautala’s son, by a record margin of more than 86,000 votes in Rori. The House already has former chief minister Bhajan Lal and his son Chander Mohan as its members.

The ruling BJD retained the Aska Lok Sabha seat where elections was necessitated by the resignation of Naveen Patnaik. Kumudini Patnaik won the seat defeating her nearest rival Umakanta Mishra of the Congress.

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The first result out of the three seats where by-elections were held on May 26 in Bihar favoured the ruling RJD’s ally, the Marxist Co-ordination Committee.

The ruling Telugu Desam Party and the Congress retained the Bhongir and Chevella Assembly seats respectively in Andhra Pradesh. Uma Madhava Reddy, widow of slain minister A. Madhava Reddy, and P. Sabita Reddy, widow of former Home Minister P. Indra Reddy, won their seats comfortably.

In Assam, the ruling Asom Gana Parishad won all the three seats.

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Himanta’s bid to arm people off to slow start: 266 applications, none accepted

India2 hr ago

Assam government's portal for indigenous citizens to seek arms licenses has received 266 applications. Most applications are from Muslim-majority districts, but 28 have been rejected and none have been accepted. Eligibility criteria include being an indigenous citizen, 21 years old, and residing in a vulnerable area. The government aims to protect those in sensitive areas, not arm young people.

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