New Delhi: Outcomes of the meeting by-poll elections held throughout seven seats in six states final week went in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP), prima facie, with the celebration profitable 4 of the seats, whereas it had beforehand held solely three of those.
Based on the outcomes introduced Sunday, the BJP retained the seats of Gopalganj in Bihar, Gola Gokarannath in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in Odisha. In Munogide in Telangana and Adampur in Haryana, the BJP had fielded sitting legislators who had resigned from their earlier celebration to hitch the BJP. Whereas it received the Adampur seat, it misplaced Munogide to rival Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
In Maharashtra, within the first elections since a insurgent Shiv Sena faction led by now Chief Minister Eknath Shinde joined palms with the BJP within the state to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition of the Sena, the Nationalist Congress Occasion (NCP) and the Congress, the BJP pulled out of the election within the final minute.
In additionally the primary polls in Bihar because the Janata Dal (United) below Nitish Kumar left the NDA alliance earlier this yr, to hitch hand with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), each the BJP and the JD(U)-RJD alliance needed to accept a draw.
Whereas the RJD retained the Mokama meeting seat, Gopalganj went to the BJP. The RJD misplaced the Gopalganj seat by a mere 1,794 votes. The seat has been with the BJP since 2005, however RJD candidate Mohan Prasad Gupta gave a troublesome struggle to the BJP’s Kusum Devi, regardless of former member of Parliament Sadhu Yadav’s spouse and Bahujan Samaj Occasion candidate Indira Yadav and the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) consuming into the RJD’s core vote financial institution amongst Yadavs and Muslims. However for the BSP and the AIMIM, the RJD would have seemingly defeated the BJP.
Whereas Indira Yadav obtained 8,853 of 168396 votes polled, AIMIM candidate Abdul Islam managed to get 12,212 votes, in a fiercely contested battle between the RJD and the BJP.
The BJP had fielded Kusum Devi, spouse of deceased BJP legislator Subash Singh for the Gopalganj by-polls, however the victory margin got here down from 2020, when Subash Singh had received the seat for the BJP with a margin of greater than 36,000 votes over his nearest rival of the Bahujan Samaj Occasion’s (BSP) Anirudh Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav.
In Mokama, RJD candidate Neelam Devi defeated BJP’s Sonam Devi. The BJP management had fielded Sonam Devi a day after her husband and strongman Lalan Singh joined the celebration. The BJP additionally had roped in one other bahubali, Surajbhan Singh, in addition to Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Occasion (Ram Vilas) to marketing campaign for its candidate Sonam Devi. That is the primary time that the BJP had contested in Mokarma, a seat it normally left for its allies.
Although Neelam Devi retained the seat for the RJD, the profitable margin dipped to 16,741 votes in opposition to 35,757 when her husband, Anant Singh, had received it for the celebration in 2020, defeating his nearest rival, JD(U)’s Rajeev Lochan Narayan Singh. The seat has been received repeatedly by Anant Singh, each as a JD(U) and an RJD candidate. Whereas he had received Mokama as a JD(U) candidate in 2005 and 2010, as an Unbiased in 2015, and below the RJD banner in 2020. The Mokama seat fell vacant after Anant Singh, the sitting MLA from RJD, was disqualified owing to a conviction in a prison case earlier this yr.
The BJP was fast to make use of the by-poll outcomes to focus on Nitish Kumar, relatively than the RJD which contested the polls within the identify of the RJD-JD(U) Grand Alliance.
“I’d thank the individuals for sending a robust message to the Grand Alliance that they’ve been rejected. We obtained the very best votes in Mokama regardless of contesting there after 27 years. Sooner or later, our efficiency will probably be higher,” BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal advised ThePrint.
The Bihar by-polls had been being noticed keenly by each the BJP and the RJD-JD(U) because it precedes the essential 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It has assumed even larger significance for the BJP as this could be the primary time that it will likely be contesting the Lok Sabha elections because the JD(U) ended ties and it was these elections as a “testing floor”.
Union ministers, together with Residence Minister Amit Shah, have been touring the state to evaluate the celebration’s preparation for the Lok Sabha elections.
Based on Sanjay Kumar of the Centre for the Research of Growing Societies (CSDS), nevertheless, the by-poll outcomes shouldn’t be considered as a sign of the 2024 Lok Sabha election outcomes and even the Bihar meeting elections, scheduled to be held in 2025.
“I don’t draw any conclusion for 2024 so far as these elections are involved whether or not it’s Bihar or Telangana. Although these elections do increase the morale of the respective events. TRS is already in energy so it could not have any influence in Telangana,” he stated.
Kumar added: “Had BJP received, it could have boosted the morale of the BJP and would have helped a little bit, in say growth. In Bihar, undoubtedly some comfort prize for BJP as a result of it’s not in alliance with JD(U) and it’ll give some confidence to BJP staff that it might probably win a seat by itself. Although it doesn’t give any assure that it’ll win in future.”
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The battle in Haryana, Telangana, Maharashtra & Odisha
In Haryana’s Adampur, BJP candidate Bhavya Bishnoi — grandson of former Haryana Congress Chief Minister Bhajan Lal — emerged victorious within the prestigious Adampur by-poll. The seat had been with Bhajan Lal’s household since 1968. That is the primary time that the BJP has received the seat.
The by-poll was necessitated as Bhavya’s father and sitting Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi joined the BJP in August, after he was expelled from the Congress in June for cross-voting in opposition to the celebration candidate.
One of many issues that labored for Bhavya was that the dominant Jat votes obtained cut up between the Aam Aadmi Occasion, the Congress and the Indian Nationwide Lok Dal (INLD), all of which had fielded Jat candidates. Bhavya defeated Congress veteran chief Jai Prakash by a margin of over 16,000 votes, bettering the vote share of the Bishnois on the Adampur seat.
Whereas Bhavya received 67,492 votes, her father Kuldeep, had received 63,693 votes within the 2019 meeting elections. In 2014, Kuldeep had obtained 48,224 votes, because the Haryana Janhit Congress celebration candidate — a celebration his father Bhajan Lal had shaped in 2007 after leaving the Congress.
In Telangana’s Munugode, the outcomes got here as a giant aid for the TRS, particularly after the BJP’s spectacular present within the Larger Hyderabad Municipal Company (GHMC) elections earlier this yr.
The BJP had received 48 of the GHMC’s 150 wards, in opposition to 55 received by the TRS, the ruling celebration within the state, and 44 received by the AIMIM.
The GMC loss had prompted the TRS to view the by-polls as a ‘status’ battle.
TRS candidate Koosukuntla Prabhakar Reddy obtained 97,006 votes, profitable by a margin of over 10,000 votes over the BJP’s Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy, who obtained 86,697 votes. The Congress, which had been in energy within the constituency, obtained solely 23,906 votes.
The by-poll was necessitated after sitting MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy give up the Congress and resigned from his put up in August. Reddy then joined the BJP and contested the by-polls for the celebration.
Whereas the Munugode win is being seen as a lift for the TRS celebration, BJP leaders are discovering solace within the “powerful struggle” they put up.
“So far as this election is worried, whereas by-polls had been held for seven seats, we contested six and received 4. Earlier we had three seats. In Bihar, for the primary time we contested with out the assist of JD(U), and the truth that the whole JD(U)-RJD and different events contested collectively regardless of that we now have received Bihar. You’ll be able to see the change clearly. We fought in opposition to the federal government in Bihar this time, whereas earlier we had been a part of the federal government once we contested. That is how Modi’s picture is being carried all through the nation,” stated P Laxman, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP’s parliamentary board member
He added: “In Telangana the Congress candidate misplaced his deposit. General it’s only BJP which has received in opposition to all odds. In Telangana we had 12,000 votes (8%), and now we now have obtained 87,000 votes (40% ). It’s a clear sign that BJP is the one various within the state. Regardless of Rahul’s Bharat Jodi Yatra, they haven’t received in Telangana,” he added.
The Munugode outcomes come at a time when the BJP is busy projecting itself as the first opposition celebration in Telangana and has been concentrating on the Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (KCR)-led TRS authorities within the state over alleged misgovernance and corruption, amongst others.
The by-poll outcomes had been preceded by an intense conflict between the 2 events, additionally over an MLA poaching controversy.
In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) received its first election because the cut up within the Sena earlier this yr, following which the insurgent faction led by Eknath Shinde joined palms with the BJP. The BJP pulled out of the by-polls on the final minute in what is probably going a calculative retreat in what may have been the primary electoral battle of power between the BJP and the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena. The struggle for the Andheri East seat was held because of the premature loss of life of Sena MLA Ramesh Latke and his spouse was fielded from the seat by Uddhav Thackeray.
In Odisha’s Dhamnagar, BJP retained the seat, after elections had been necessitated following the loss of life of MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi. Sethi’s son Suryabanshi Suraj, combating on a BJP ticket, received the seat. BJP’s Suryabanshi Suraj obtained 80,351 votes, whereas BJD’s Abanti Das obtained 70,470 votes.
Sunday’s win will certainly bolster the celebration’s confidence after the drubbing it obtained within the panchayat polls held earlier this yr. Of the 852 zilla parishad zone polls, BJD had received 766 seats whereas the BJP received solely 42, and the Congress 37.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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