Assembly bye-election results
By Nava Thakuria
New Delhi/Guwahati: While the Congress Party won all three seats in the bye-elections in Himachal Pradesh and also made a clean sweep winning two seats in Rajasthan, the oldest political party of India is facing a crisis in north-eastern States and it became visible after the results of nine bye-elections came out on Tuesday.
Onverall though, the Congress could win 8 seats out of 30 seats in the Assembly bye-elections across 14 States. The results were declared today. The Bharatiya Janata Party on its own won 7 seats.
While the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) won all four seats in West Bengal, in Bihar, it was the ruling Janata Dal (United) which won both the Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur seats in the bye-elections. JD (U) candidates Aman Bhushan Hajari and Rajeev Kumar Singh respectively won the Kusheswar Asthan and Tarapur seats. In Andhra Pradesh, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) candidate Dasari Sudha won the Badvel (SC) seat securing 76.25% of the total votes polled, while in Haryana, Indian National Lok Dal candidate Abhay Singh Chautala won from Ellenabad seat.
The polling was conducted on October 30, 2021 in Mizoram, Meghalaya and Assam along with a few other States in the country, namely Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Telangana.
In Himachal, Congress’s Sanjay won the Arki seat, while Bhawani Singh Pathania won the Fatehpur seat and Rohit Thakur won from Jubbal-Kotkhai constituency. In Karnataka, the Congress candidate Mane Shrinivas won from Hangal, the BJP candidate Bhusanur Ramesh Balappa won from Sindgi. The Congress also won one of the three seats in Madhya Pradesh, where its candidate Kalpana Verma won from Raigaon. The BJP won the remaining two seats – Dr. Shishupal Yadav from Prithvipur, and Sulochana Rawat from Jobat. In Maharashtra too, Congress’s Antapurkar Jitesh Raosaheb won the Delgur (SC) seat, while in Rajasthan, its candidate Nagraj and Preeti Gajendra Singh Shaktawat respectively won the Dhariawad and Vallabhnagar Assembly seats. In Telangana, the BJP’s Eatala Rajender won from Huzurabad constituency. In West Bengal, TMC’s Udayan Guha won from Dinhata, Subrata Mondal from Gosaba, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay from Khardaha, and Braj Kishor Goswami from Santipur.
Bye election results in 14 states at a glance
In North Eastern states, Indian National Congress (INC) lost all the competing assembly seats as it failed to get any of the candidates elected to the respective legislative assemblies. The victorious Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) succeeded in most of the seats. The scheduled bye-elections in Nagaland was evaded as the ruling National Democratic Progressive Party candidate S Keoshu Yimchunger was declared a winner unopposed from Shamtorr-Chessor assembly seat. Need not mention that presently there are no INC ruled States in the region and it is not even an ally to any north-eastern governments.
The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) nominee K. Laldawngliana defeated his nearest rival Pu Laltlanmawia (from Zoram People’s Movement) in Tuirial constituency by a margin of 1,284 votes. The INC representative Chalrosanga Ralte found himself in third place.
In Meghalaya, the ruling MDA coalition bagged all three seats, where also the Congress lost the electoral battles. National People’s Party (NPP) nominee Abdus Saleh won from Rajabala constituency defeating his nearest opponent Hashina Yasmin Mondal (INC) with a margin of 1926. United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate Ashahel D Shira was placed in the third position.
Similarly, NPP candidate Pyniaidsing Syiem defeated the nearest rival Highlender Kharmalki (INC) in Mawrynkneng seat with the margin of 1816. On the other hand, UDP nominee Eugeneson Lyngdoh emerged victorious in Mawphlang constituency against Kennedy Cornelius Khyriem (INC) with a margin of 4401 votes.
In Assam, all five seats were grabbed by the BJP (3 seats) and its political ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) (2 seats), defeating the Congress candidates in each constituency. Other losing parties include All India United Democratic Front of Assam, Bodoland People’s Front, Gana Suraksha Party, Communist Party of India, etc. More amazingly, all the three winning BJP candidates abandoned the Congress and AIUDF recently that necessitated the bye-elections in Thowra, Mariani and Bhabanipur constituencies.
Sushanta Borgohain, a former Congress legislator, won in Thowra seat defeating Dhaijya Konwar (an independent candidate) by a margin of 30,561 votes. Another former Congress MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi succeeded in Mariani seat defeating Luhit Konwar (INC) by a margin of 40104 votes. Similarly, a firmer AIUDF legislator Phanidhar Talukdar won from Bhabanipur constituency defeating Sailendra Nath Das (INC) by a margin of 25641.
On the other hand, UPPL candidate Jiron Basumatary defeated Jowel Tudu (INC) in Gossaigaon seat under the Bodoland territorial area by a margin of 28252 votes. Similarly, another UPPL nominee Jolen Daimary defeated Ganesh Kachary (independent candidate) in Tamulpur seat, also in BTR, by a margin of 57059 votes.
Even though the saffron supporters were in victory mood in Assam, no victory procession was taken out following the strict guidelines of Election Commission of India. The election authority even permitted only two persons to accompany the winning candidate (or his/her authorized representative) to receive the certificate. Necessary precautions were also made in view of the Covid-19 restrictions across the country.
– (with inputs from global bihari bureau)
