New Delhi: Adding to the owes of Congress in in Assam and Kerala Assembly elections, the party suffered reverses in bypolls in Gujarat and Telangana as its candidates failed to retain a seat each in the two states and forfeiting deposits in both the seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Gujarat bypoll: BJP wrests Talala Assembly seat from Congress
BJP candidate Govind Parmar won the by-election to Talala Assembly constituency in Gir-Somnath district by defeating Congress candidate Bhagwanji Barad by over 2,000 votes. The seat was earlier held by Congress.
Parmar defeated Barad by a thin margin of 2,440 votes, Gir-Somnath Collector Ajay Kumar announced after the counting ended this afternoon. "Parmar received 63,896 votes while Barad received 61,456 votes. Thus, BJP candidate has won the elections by more than 2,000 votes," Kumar said.
The by-election was necessitated after Jasu Barad, the Congress MLA from the constituency, passed away in January.
Around 63 per cent voter turnout was registered during the polling held on May 16.
While the Congress gave ticket to Jasu Barad's younger brother, Bhagwanji Barad, BJP fielded Parmar, who had won the Talala seat in 2002.
This was the the second face-off between Bhagwanji Barad and Parmar as they had contested against each other on the same seat in the 2007 Assembly polls. Barad had then defeated Parmar.
Earlier, Parmar had won the 2002 Assembly election defeating Jasu Barad. Later, Jasu Barad defeated Parmar in 2012 Assembly polls with a thin margin.
After winning the polls, Parmar thanked party workers as well as voters. He also promised to solve the problems faced by people.
Gujarat BJP president Vijay Rupani claimed the win was an indication that the party will win the 2017 Assembly polls in the state.
He also claimed that the Patel quota agitation, which created anti-BJP sentiments among Patel community, did not affect the party's performance in Talala.
Palair Assembly bypoll: TRS wrests seat from Congress
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti continued its winning spree as its candidate Tummala Nageswara Rao won the Palair Assembly bypoll by a margin of 45,682 votes and wrested the seat from Congress.
Rao, MLC and Roads and Buildings Minister, secured 94,940 votes while defeating the main opposition Congress nominee Sucharita Reddy (49,258 votes), who was supported by the TDP and YSRCP.
CPI(M) candidate P Sudarshan Rao, who was backed by CPI, got 15,538 votes.
Sucharita is wife of Congress leader Ramreddy Venkat Reddy, whose death necessitated the bypoll.
Terming the result as a reflection of the TRS' two-year rule, Chief Minister K Chandresekhar Rao said it's a clear endorsement of his government by the people.
Palair in Khammam district is the second Assembly seat after Narayankhed in Medak district that the TRS has wrested from the opposition, after it came to power in 2014.
The TRS had also swept the civic body elections in Warangal, Khammam and Achampet in Mahabubnagar district in March this year. Besides, it also emerged victorious in Siddipet Municipality elections in Medak.
The TRS had also won bypolls in Medak and Warangal Lok Sabha constituencies, held in September 2014 and November 2015 respectively, and swept the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections in February this year.
UP bypolls: SP retains Bilari, Jangipur seats
Ruling Samajwadi Party retained both Bilari and Jangipur Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where bye-elections were held on May 16.
From Bilari (Moradabad/Shamli) Assembly seat, SP candidate Mohammad Fahim won with a margin of 7,063 votes against his nearest rival BJP's Suresh Saini, officials said.
From Jangipur (Ghazipur), SP candidate Kismati Devi won with a margin of 22,092 votes against her nearest rival BJP candidate Ramesh Singh, they said.
The Jangipur seat fell vacant after sitting MLA and Cabinet minister Kailash Yadav died of a brain hemorrhage in February, while bypoll in Bilari was necessitated due to the death of 64-year-old Haji Irfan in a road accident on March 10.
Yadav, who held the Panchayati Raj portfolio, wielded considerable influence in eastern UP and his death was considered a setback for the party.
Irfan, a first-time legislator, had died after the vehicle he was travelling in fell into a ditch.
Jharkhand bypolls: BJP, Cong retain Godda, Panki seats
The BJP and the Congress retained the Godda and Panki Assembly seats respectively where bypolls were held on May 16.
BJP's Amit Mandal defeated RJD's Sanjay Yadav by 34,551 votes on the Godda seat, election officials said.
From Panki, Congress's Devendra Kumar Singh defeated JMM candidate Kushwaha Shashibhusan Mehta by 3,558 votes, Returning Officer Albert Bilung said.
The two seats fell vacant after the demise of Bidesh Singh (Congress-Panki) of heart attack on March 28, and Raghunandan Mandal (BJP-Godda) of illness on January 3.
The Election commission had earlier, deferred the by-polls in Anantnag assembly seat in Jammu and Kashmir and Kanubari seat in Arunachal Pradesh. It postponed the by-poll to the Anantnag assembly seat after the Mehbooba Mufti-led Jammu and Kashmir Government raised concerns over the law and order situation.
The enforcement of Model Code of Conduct in relation to the by-election in Kanubari seat in Arunachal Pradesh would remain in abeyance until further direction by the Election Commission.
