Bypoll cheer for BJP elsewhere too

Apart from excellent performance in Gujarat bypolls where it wrested five seats from the Congress,there was more good...

Apart from excellent performance in Gujarat bypolls where it wrested five seats from the Congress,there was more good news for the BJP as it won one each in Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

Winning Vikas Nagar bypoll in Uttarakhand was a major challenge for newly installed Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank as the Congress had registered a lead of 16,000 votes from this area in the recent Lok Sabha polls. This is a victory for the united effort put in by the party workers. It also shows that the people have full confidence in the functioning of the government, said Nishank after the results.

However,while Congress spokesperson Surender Arya accused the government of misusing the state machinery for ensuring a victory for its candidate,party sources said the loss was the result of rampant infighting and its candidate Nav Prabhat ignoring party workers. The electorate seems to have backed the Congress but rejected the candidate, said a senior Congress leader.

In Madhya Pradesh,the BJP and the Congress shared honours in the by-elections to two Assembly constituencies,winning one seat each. The ruling BJP had won 143 seats in the 2008 Assembly elections and added Tendukheda to its kitty by wresting it from the Congress whose tally now stands at 70.

The Congress,which retained the Gohad seat in Bhind district,has apparently benefited from a sympathy wave for Ranvir Jatav,whose fathers murder had necessitated the by-election. Makhanlal Jatav was shot while he was campaigning for a Congress candidate during the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress did not win the Lok Sabha seat,of which Gohad is a segment,though it had made the murder its poll plank.

The Congress retained Tekkali Assembly seat in Andhra Pradesh by-election,which was necessitated by the death of its MLA K Revathipathy. K Bharati,Congress candidate and wife of Revapathipathy,wrestled the seat from her nearest rival TDPs Atcham Naidu with a margin of 7,173 votes.

In Sikkim,with the victory in Namchi-Singhithang Assembly bypoll,the Sikkim Democratic Front SDF now has all the seats in the 32-member state legislature. The party had won all the seats in the Assembly polls earlier this year with Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling winning two seats.