Bypoll results: INDIA bloc secures landslide win with 10 of 13 seats, BJP bags 2; independent 1
In a major boost for the opposition, the INDIA bloc seats clinched 10 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in two constituencies as votes were counted for the bypolls in 13 assembly seats across seven states on Saturday.
Among the assembly segments that went to the polls on July 10, the Congress won the Dehra and Nalagarh seats in Himachal Pradesh but lost Hamirpur to the BJP.
Congress had fielded chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife, Kamlesh Thakur, in Dehra, where she won by a margin of 9,399 votes against BJP’s Hoshyar Singh.
In the Nalagarh constituency, Congress’ Hardeep Singh Bawa defeated BJP’s KL Thakur by a margin of 8,990 votes. However, the Hamirpur seat went to the BJP after its leader Ashish Sharma defeated his closest rival, Congress leader Pushpinder Verma, by a margin of 1,571 votes.
The three assembly seats fell vacant after Hoshyar Singh, Ashish Sharma, and KL Thakur, who were then independent MLAs, along with six Congress rebels, voted in favour of the BJP candidate in the February 27 Rajya Sabha elections.
They joined the BJP on March 23 and petitioned the Himachal Pradesh High Court to direct the Speaker to accept their resignations.
In Uttarakhand, where two seats were contested, Congress’ Lakhapat Singh Butola won from Badrinath, defeating BJP’s Rajendra Singh Bhandari by a margin of 5,224 votes. The Manglaur seat was claimed by Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin, who narrowly defeated BJP’s Kartar Singh Bhadana by 422 votes.
The Badrinath seat went to the polls after three-time Congress MLA Rajendra Singh resigned and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in March. Polling in Manglaur was held following the death of BSP MLA Sarwant Karim Ansari in October 2023; he had won the seat twice, in 2012 and 2022.
The INDIA bloc’s partner, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), fielded Mohinder Bhagat from Punjab’s Jalandhar West, who won the seat, defeating his nearest rival, BJP candidate Sheetal Angural, by a margin of over 37,325 votes.
Trinamool Congress, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, won four assembly seats. Its candidates Krishna Kalyani won from Raiganj, Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin, Madhuparna Thakur from Bagda, and Supti Pandey from Maniktala.
The party had taken the lead over its rivals since morning. The bypolls for these four assembly seats were held on July 10. Meanwhile, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Anniyur Siva was leading in Tamil Nadu’s Vikravandi assembly constituency.
The Bharatiya Janata Party also won the Amarwara seat in Madhya Pradesh, where its candidate Kamlesh Pratap Shah defeated Congress party’s Dheeran Shah by a margin of 3,027 votes.
In Rupauli seat of Bihar, independent candidate Shankar Singh defeated Janata Dal (United) candidate Kaladhar Mandal by a margin of 8,246 votes.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) retained the Vikravandi assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu as its leader Anniyur Siva defeated Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) candidate Anbumani C by a margin of over 67,00 votes.
The bypolls are seen as an important test for the BJP, which won 240 seats, falling short of the 272-majority mark and needing support from allies in the NDA coalition to form a government.
With support from key allies like N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which secured 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar respectively, along with other coalition partners, the NDA surpassed the halfway mark.