Bypoll results: BJP wins 5 Assembly seats, Congress retains Karnataka
New Delhi: The recently-held bypolls across 10 Assembly constituencies in eight states - Delhi, Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam and Madhya Pradesh have yielded 5 seats for the BJP.
Elections were held on Sunday in Rajouri Garden (Delhi), Litipara (Jharkhand), Nanjangud and Gundlupet (Karnataka), Dholpur (Rajasthan), Kanthi Dakshin (West Bengal), Ater and Bandhavgarh (Madhya Pradesh), Bhoranj (Himachal Pradesh) and Dhemaji (Assam).
New Delhi:
The BJP registered a huge 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 deposit.
BJP-SAD joint candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa bagged 40,602 seats, over 50 per cent of the total votes polled, in a boost for the saffron party ahead of the April 23 municipal polls.
Congress' 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, and lost deposit.
With the AAP's humiliating defeat, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia admitted that people were upset with the party over its legislator quitting to contest from Punjab.
Karnataka:
The ruling Congress in Karnataka retained both the Assembly seats of Nanjangud and Gundlupet.
Congress' Kalale N Keshavamurthy defeated his nearest rival V Srinivas Prasad (BJP) by over 21,000 votes in Nanjangud. In Gundlupet, Geetha Mahadevaprasad (Congress) trounced BJP's C S Niranjan Kumar by over 10,000 votes, an election official said. Both the seats were held by the Congress.
With the Assembly polls slated to be held in about a year, the Congress and the BJP had played for heavy stakes in the bypolls.
The by-elections were necessitated in Gundulpet following the death of Cooperation Minister Mahadevaprasad while in Nanjangud, it was caused by the resignation of Srinivas Prasad as Congress MLA after he was dropped from the ministry.
Srinivas had switched over to the BJP, while Keshavamurthy had contested the 2013 Assembly polls on a JD(S) ticket. Geeta is the widow of Mahadeva Prasad.
Remaining neutral, former Prime Minister H D Devegowda- led JDS had not fielded its candidates.
West Bengal:
Trinamool Congress candidate Chandrima Bhattacharya won from Kanthi Dakshin with 95369 votes. BJP comes second with 52843 votes.
Madhya Pradesh
The BJP retained the Bandhavgarh assembly seat defeating rival Congress by a margin of over 25,000 votes. BJP nominee Shivnarayan Singh defeated Congress' candidate Savitri Singh from the seat in Umaria district by 25,476 votes, an election official said. In Ater, the Congress won with a small margin of 848 votes.
Himachal Pradesh:
BJP candidate Dr Anil Dhiman won the Bhoranj (SC) Assembly seat in Himachal Pradesh by 8,290 votes. The BJP candidate Dr Anil Dhiman 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.
Assam:
BJP 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.
Jharkhand:
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) candidate Simon Marandi won by 12,900 votes in Litipara.
Rajasthan:
BJP candidate Shobha Rani won from Dholpur, defeating Congress candidate Banwari Lal Sharma by 38673 votes. "The BJP candidate has secured 47,951 votes while the votes of Congress candidate Banwari Lal Sharma are 25,349," according to the state election commission.
Meanwhile, the BJP leaders gave credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje whereas the Congress questioned the credibility of EVM machines.
Repolling took place in 38 booths of Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency today after the Election Commission order following violence in the April 9 by-election, in which 8 people were killed in clashes with security forces. It saw only a 2.02 per cent turnout, the lowest in the history of Jammu and Kashmir.
Voter-verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) were used at all the 166 polling stations of the west Delhi constituency, following AAP's allegations that the EVMs were tampered with.
