BJP wins four seats as NDA fares better in bypolls

IANS NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 16 The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday won four seats and the Congress two as the ruling National Democratic Alliance bettered the Opposition in by-elections for 12 seats held across eight states three days ago. Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) was the worst sufferer. The SP lost two of the three seats it held in Uttar Pradesh — one each to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP also snatched two seats from the Congress — one each in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The BJP was the winner in Maihar (Madhya Pradesh), Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh) and in Hebbal and Devadurga in Karnataka. Congress grabs Bidar The Congress grabbed Bidar in Karnataka and Deoband in Uttar Pradesh. Bihar’s Harlakhi seat was retained by the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP). The Shiv Sena won from Palghar in Maharashtra, the ruling TRS crushed the Congress in Narayankhed in Telangana and the CPI—M won from Amarpur in Tripura again with the BJP taking the second spot. Punjab’s Kharoor Sahib constituency went the Shiromani Akali Dal way in an election boycotted by both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the state’s new entrant. In BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Narayan Tripathi snatched the Maihar constituency from the Congress by over 27,000 votes. Tripathi had won the seat for the Congress earlier. He quit the house after joining the BJP. Setback for SP Uttar Pradesh proved a shocker to the SP. BJP’s Kapil Dev Agarwal was declared elected from Muzaffarnagar, where communal riots took place in 2013. He defeated Chittaranjan Swaroop of the SP by about 6,000 votes. Communal tension remains high in Muzaffarnagar in northern Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, three years after 65 people were killed in clashes between Hindus and Muslims, the worst bloodletting in the area in decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP swept the Muzaffarnagar election, beating out powerful regional parties and reducing its main nationwide rival, the Congress party, to third place, the results released by the Election Commission Showed. In the run-up to the vote, state BJP leaders sought to rally voters behind their Hindutva campaign. Critics see the campaign as an attempt to drive a wedge between Hindus, who make up 80 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion people and Muslims, Christians and others. In the run-up to the vote, state BJP leaders sought to rally voters behind their Hindutva campaign. Critics see the campaign as an attempt to drive a wedge between Hindus, who make up 80 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion people and Muslims, Christians and others. Next year, the whole of Uttar Pradesh elects a new state assembly in what will be Modi’s most important test of popularity before he seeks a new term in 2019. The Congress party, which has been trying to regain ground since its defeat in the 2014 national election, won Deoband in another part of the state, which is home to a leading school of Islamic thought and a large number of Muslims. Congress’s Mavia Ali wrested the Deobad seat by defeating Meena Rana of SP by 3,424 votes. Both Muzaffarnagar and Deoband seats were held by the SP, which faces assembly elections in the state next year. The SP’s consolation came in Bikapur in Faizabad district. It retained the seat, the winner being Anand Sen Yadav. BJP’s Y A Narayanaswamy won from the high-profile Hebbal in Bengaluru North, defeating C K Abdul Rahman Sharief (Congress) by 19,149 votes. The loser is the grandson of former union minister C K Jaffer Sharief. In the reserved Devadurga constituency in Raichur district, BJP’s K Shivana Gouda Nayak won by 16,871 votes over A Rajashekhara Nayak of the Congress. In Bidar, Congress nominee Rahim Khan finished on top, defeating Prakash Khandre of the BJP by 22,721 votes. In all three places, the Janata Dal (Secular) was a poor third. In Bihar, the RLSP’s Sudhansu Sekhar was declared elected from Harlakhi, defeating Congress candidate Mohammad Shabbir by over 18,000 votes. The election was necessitated by the death of RLSP legislator Basant Kumar Kushwaha a few hours ahead of the oath-taking ceremony of the new Bihar Assembly in November 2015. Sudhansu Sekhar is Kushwaha’s son. The by-election in Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib, boycotted by the Congress and the AAP, was grabbed by the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal’s Ravinder Singh Brahmpura. He worsted his nearest rival, an Independent, by 65,664 votes. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal called it a “massive victory of positive agenda of peace, communal harmony, brotherhood and development”. The Congress was stunned in Telangana, M Bhupal Reddy of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) defeated P. Sanjeeva Reddy of the Congress by over 53,000 votes. Bhupal Reddy polled 93,076 votes and Sanjeeva Reddy 39,451 votes. M. Vijayapal Reddy of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) finished third with 14,787 votes. BJP takes second spot in Tripura Tripura’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) retained by a huge margin the Amarpur seat, where the BJP edged out the Congress to take the second spot, indicating the marginalization of the Congress in the state. CPI (M)’s Parimal Debnath defeated BJP’s Ranjit Das by 10,597 votes. The CPI (M) polled 20,355 votes and the BJP 9,758 votes. The Congress’s Chanchal Dey got only 1,231 votes, and stood fourth. The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura took the third place with 1,623 votes. Also on Tuesday, BJP’s Ashu Verma won the mayoral by-election in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. He defeated Samajwadi Party’s Sudan Rawal by 45,228 votes. Massive victory Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today described the results of the Khadoor Sahib bye-election as a “massive victory” that would lay the foundation for an “unprecedented” SAD-BJP win in the state assembly polls next year. “The bypoll outcome has laid the foundation stone of an unprecedented SAD-BJP win in the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections,” the five-time Chief Minister said. The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today won the bypoll to Khadoor Sahib Assembly seat, with party candidate Ravinder Singh Brahmpura defeating his nearest Independent rival Bhupinder Singh by a margin of 65,664 votes. Main opposition parties Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had stayed out of the contest.