Bypoll results 2018: Opposition unity arrests Modi wave, BJP trails on 11 out of 15 seats

The BJP is facing stiff competition from a united Opposition

File photo

NEW DELHI: As the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP stared at a huge defeat in the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls results 2018 on Thursday, all facts pointed towards a singular pattern emerging across the country: it's BJP versus a united Opposition.

The results of these bypolls, considered to be a litmus test for BJP which is currently leading alone or in an alliance in 20 states, is likely to define the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019. It could also shape the party's outcome in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram Assembly elections, scheduled to be held later this year. 

The BJP faced stiff opposition from united counters during the Thursday bypoll results. The party started off with a strong lead early on which later dwindled drastically. 

Currently, BJP+ is leading in just four out of overall 15 seat LS and Assembly seats.

It is leading in Palghar Lok Sabha seat but trailing in Maharashtra's Bhandara-Gondia and Uttar Pradesh's Kairana. BJP ally Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party is leading in Nagaland. 

The party is also trailing in 9 Assembly constituency seats and leading in just 2. 

The Congress, on the other hand, has already won two Assembly constituencies. Congress candidate Miani Dalbot Shira, daughter of Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, won the Meghalaya's Ampati Assembly constituency bypolls on Thursday. The party candidate Vishwajeet Kadam was declared the unopposed winner in Maharashtra's Palus Kadegaon.

Congress is also leading by a massive margin in Punjab's Shahkot Assembly constituency and Bengaluru's RR Nagar Assembly constituency. 

The other parties that registered a lead over BJP in Assembly constituency by-polls are Samajwadi Party in UP's Noorpur, Trinamool is West Bengal's Maheshtala, RJD in Bihar's Jokihat, JMM in Silli, CPM in Kerala's Chengannur, and Samajwadi in UP's Noorpur.

The counting of votes for bypolls is currently underway in four high-stake Lok Sabha seats (Kairana, Bhandara-Gondia and Palghar and Nagaland parliamentary constituency), 10 Assembly constituencies (Punjab's Shahkot, Uttarakhand's Tharali, Meghalaya's Ampati, Kerala's Chengannur, Bihar's Jokihat, Jharkhand's Gomia and Silli, West Bengal's Maheshtala, Uttar Pradesh's Noorpur and Maharashtra's Palus Kadegaon) and polls to Karnataka's RR Nagar (Rajarajeshwarinagar) Assembly seat. 

Repolling at the four Lok Sabha constituencies took place on Wednesday, May 30. The voter turn-out at Kairana was 61 per cent while Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha recorded 45 per cent turnout and Nagaland 44.68 per cent.