New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) put on a strong show on Thursday, winning assembly bypolls in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Assam.
The party also won one of the two in bypolls in Madhya Pradesh, with the second still being too close to call. It was leading in Rajasthan as per latest reports.
Overall, the BJP is in a strong position in five of nine seats where elections were held on April 9.
In relief for the Congress, the party beat the odds to win both seats that were up for grabs in Karnataka, and was locked in close fight with the BJP for one seat in Madhya Pradesh.
By-elections were held in nine Assembly constituencies in seven states on Sunday, besides the Srinagar parliamentary seat. Two seats each are in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.
The thumping victory in the national capital was sweet music for the BJP ahead of the municipal polls.
The BJP registered a victory in the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll, handing a humiliating defeat to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which finished a distant third and even lost its deposit.
BJP-SAD joint candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa bagged 40,602 seats, over 50 percent of the total votes polled, in a boost for the saffron party. Congress's Meenakshi Chandela finished second with 25,950 votes while AAP's Harjeet Singh managed to get only 10,243 votes, less than one-sixth of the total votes polled.
In Madhya Pradesh, BJP retained the Bandhavgarh Assembly seat after defeating rival Congress by margin of over 25,000 votes while it was a close fight between Congress and BJP in Ater seat.
BJP nominee Shivnarayan Singh defeated Congress' candidate Savitri Singh from the seat in Umaria district by 25,476 votes, an election official said.
In Himachal Pradesh, BJP candidate Dr Anil Dhiman won the Bhoranj (SC) Assembly seat in Himachal Pradesh by 8,290 votes. The BJP candidate defeated his nearest Congress rival, Promila Devi by 8,290 votes. Dhiman polled 24,453 votes against 16,144 votes polled by Devi while Pawan Chandel, a BJP rebel who contested as an Independent, polled 4,630 votes.
The showing was good for the party in Assam also where its candidate Ranoj Pegu won the Dhemaji Assembly by-election defeating his nearest Congress rival Babul Sonowal by 9,285 votes. While the BJP candidate polled 75,217 votes, his Congress rival garnered 65,932 votes, the election office here said.
The ruling Congress retained its hold over Karnataka, winning Nanjangud and Gundlupet Assembly seats. Congress' Kalale N Keshavamurthy defeated his nearest rival V Srinivas Prasad (BJP) by over 21,000 votes in Nanjangud. In Gundlupet, Geetha Mahadevaprasad (Cong) trounced BJP's C S Niranjan Kumar by over 10,000 votes, an election official said. Both the seats were held by Congress.
In West Bengal, Trinamool’s Chandrima Bhattacharya wins the Contai South assembly bypoll defeating her nearest BJP rival Sourindra Mohan Jana.
In Rajasthan, BJP candidate Shobha Rani was leading by 22,602 votes after ten rounds of counting in the Dholpur Assembly bypoll.
(With PTI inputs)
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