Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 8: The results of the by-elections for one parliamentary and six state Assembly seats held with the second phase polling in Gujarat on December 5 and counting of votes taken up on Thursday, also did not bring happy tidings for the ruling BJP.
While the Samajwadi Party retained the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP could win only two Assembly by-elections, one each in UP and Bihar, while the Congress won two seats in the two states it is in power, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Samajwadi Party’s ally Rashtriya Lok Dal snatched away one seat from the BJP in UP while the ruling BJD retained the Padampur seat in Odisha.
The Mainpuri seat which fell vacant following the death of the SP founder leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, was retained for her party by his daughter-in-law and wife of the SP president Akhikesh Yadav defeating BJP rival by a massive margin of over 2.88 lakh votes, improving upon Mulayam Singh’s victory margin in 2019 elections of over 94,000 votes. The SP’s alliance partner RLD won the Khatauli by-poll in UP defeating the BJP by over 22,000 votes.
The SP, however, lost the Rampur Sadar state Assembly seat to the BJP which fell vacant after the SP strongman Azam Khan was convicted in a hate speech and sentenced for three years jail term. The BJP also won the Kurhani seat in Bihar causing a set back to the chief minister Nitish Kumar whose JD(U) nominee lost by about 3,000 votes. The seat was held by Kumar’s alliance partner RJD but the by-election was contested by the JD(U).
With Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the two states it was in power, going to the polls next year, the Congress victory in the two by-elections, one seat each in the two states, could be a reassuring development. In both the seats, the Congress nominees managed to defeat the BJP, in Sardarshahar in Rajasthan by over 26,000 votes and in Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh by over 21,000 votes.
The Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) juggernaut continued to run unhindered as its nominee steamrolled to a convincing victory in the bypoll to Odisha’s Padampur. The BJD candidate Barsha Singh Bariha won by a margin of 42,679 votes, defeating the BJP’s Pradip Purohit. Barsha is the daughter of late MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha whose death in October necessitated the by-poll.
