BJP makes gains in Karnataka, UP bypolls

New Delhi: The BJP made some gains in by-elections held in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh results for which were declared on February 16, 2016.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and allies won seven out of the 12 seats in the by-polls held across the nation. The BJP won seats in Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh), Devdurga and Hebbal (both in Karnataka) and Maihar (Madhya Pradesh) while its allies Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) and Shiv Sena won from Khadoor Sahib (Punjab), Harlakhi (Bihar) and Palghar (Maharashtra) respectively.

The Congress, on the other hand, managed to win in just two seats ‘ Deoband (UP) and Bidar (Karnataka). In a major setback for the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP and Congress snatched one seat each from it in the by-polls for three assembly seats. Congress’ Mawaia Ali won the Deoband seat by a margin of 3,424 votes defeating his nearest rival Meena Rana of the SP.

BJP wins 2 seats, Cong 1 in Karnataka Assembly bypolls

BJP won two of the three Assembly by-elections, and the ruling Congress one seat  held on February 12, 2016.

In Bidar, Rahim Khan of the Congress won by a margin of 22,721 votes defeating Prakash Khandre of the BJP.  All the other eight candidates, including those from the JD(S) and BSP, lost their deposits.

In Hebbal, Y.A. Narayana Swamy (BJP) polled 60,367 votes to win by a margin of 19,149 votes. His nearest rival, C.K. Abdul Rahman Shariff (Congress), polled 41,218 votes.

K. Shivanagowda Naik (BJP) won by 72,647 votes in Devadurga, securing 16,871 more votes than A. Rajashekhra Naik of the Congress.

The by-polls were necessitated by the death of sitting members.

In all the three constituencies, there was virtually a direct fight between ruling Congress and opposition BJP, while political infighting in former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led JD(S) had reduced the party to third position.

Hebbal in Bengaluru was considered crucial for Congress as stakes were high for the party which fielded C K Abdul Rahman Sharief, grandson of senior party leader C K Jaffer Sharief, against the wishes of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who had opted for MLC Byrathi Suresh as the candidate.

Ten candidates were in the fray in Bidar, three in Devadurga and 20 in Hebbal. Of the three seats, BJP had held Hebbal and Bidar and Congress Devadurga.

 Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said here on Tuesday that the Congress would analyse the reasons for the electoral reverse for the party in two of the three Assembly segments which went to the polls last Saturday, the results of which were announced on Tuesday.

The by-elections to Hebbal, Bidar and Devadurga Assembly constituencies were held on February 13th and the Congress won in Bidar but lost in Hebbal and Devadurga.

Speaking to media persons, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said said the Congress had not expected to win in Devadurga but was confident of a victory in Bidar and the results vindicated it.

“But the Congress had worked hard for Hebbal though it is a BJP stronghold and we will analyze what went wrong,” said Siddaramaiah. However, he refuted suggestions that there were difference of opinion within the party over the choice of candidate or any other factors which contributed to the reverse. “Once the party high command gave its consent for the candidate we worked together,” he added.

He also attributed the BJP’s victory to the split in the secular votes and said when ever the secular votes are divided the benefit goes to the BJP. But when pointed out that the combined votes polled by the other parties did not add up to the winning BJP candidate in Devadurga, the Chief Minister said he was yet to receive detailed results but would analyze it later. Siddaramaiah subsequently left for H.D. Kote and Chamarajanagar to campaign for the party for the zilla panchayat and taluk panchayat elections slated to be held on Saturday (February 20).

TELANGANA

TRS gains Narayankhed seat from Congress in bypoll

Hyderabad: Continuing its winning streak, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) today wrested the Narayankhed Assembly seat in Medak district from Congress with its candidate Bhupal Reddy winning the seat by a margin of 53,625 votes.

Congress candidate P Sanjeeva Reddy polled 39,451 votes while M Vijaypal Reddy of TDP got 14,787 votes in the constituency, considered a Congress bastion.

The by-poll was necessitated following the death of Sanjeeva Reddy's father P Kishta Reddy.

The result came as a further boost to the TRS, led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, as the party had scored a landslide win in the recent Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls, bagging 99 seats of the 150-member civic body.

It had also won the Warangala Lok Sabha by-poll with a massive margin.

The TRS candidate maintained his lead from the first round of counting till the last.

Bypoll: BJP wins in Muzaffarnagar, Congress victorious in Deoband

Lucknow: BJP wrested the Muzaffarnagar seat from the ruling Samajwadi Party, which also lost the Deoband seat to the Congress in two of the three by-elections in UP for which results were announced on February 16, 2016.

The bypoll results are being viewed as crucial in the countdown to the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh next year.

The ruling party SP won the bypoll in Bikapur.

Congress has won Deoband (Saharanpur), while BJP has won Muzaffarnagar seat. SP won in Bikapur (Faizabad)," UP Chief Electoral Officer, Arun Singhal said.

While BJP's Kapil Dev Agarwal has won from the Muzffarnagar seat, Mavia Ali of Congress won the Deoband defeating SP candidate Meena Rana.

SP's Anand Sen Yadav is leading in Bikapur over his nearest rival RLD candidate Munna Singh Chauhan.

The by-elections were necessitated in Muzaffarnagar, Deoband and Bikapur due to death of of SP MLAs Chitranjan Swaroop, Rajendra Singh Rana and Mitrasen Yadav last year.

Gaurav Swaroop was the SP candidate from Muzaffarnagar, while Anandsen Yadav and Meena Rana were the party candidates from Bikapur and Deoband seat.


RLSP retains seat in Bihar bypoll

Madhubani:  BJP ally Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) has emerged victorious in the Harlakhi Assembly bypoll in Bihar, defeating his nearest Congress rival by 18,650 votes. The RLSP retains its seat.

Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha led RLSP candidate Sudhansu Sekhar, riding on a sympathy wave, defeated his Congress rival Mohammad Shabir by a margin of 18,650 votes. Upendra's father Basant Kushwaha had died a day before oath taking in November last year.

Returning Officer Bishnudeo Mandal said while RLSP nominee polled 62,434 votes, the Congress candidate bagged 43,784 votes and CPI Ram Naresh Pandey 19,835.

The victory margin of the RLSP candidate is almost five times more than his father, who had defeated the same Congress candidate Mohammad Shabir in October-November poll by about 3,600 votes.

With today's victory, the tally of RLSP goes up to two in the 16th Bihar Assembly while that of NDA to 58 in the 243-member House. BJP has 53 MLAs, LJP 2, RLSP 2 and Hindustani Awam Morcha of Jitan Ram Manjhi 1.

The RLSP is a constituent of the NDA and led by Upendra Kumar Kushwaha, Union minister of state for human resource development.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of RLSP candidate Basant Kumar, who had won the assembly elections in 2015 by a margin of 4,000 votes against Shabbir. Kumar died a day before taking oath as a member of the house. The RLSP fielded his son for the bypolls.

The result has come as a blow to the Congress which had formed an alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Janata Dal (United) to notch up 27 seats after being in the dumps for over 25 years. The Congress had pitched all its might to win the seat this time and roped in RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, consciously steered clear of Harlakhi despite Congress’ request to campaign, was conscious of the fact that the Kushwahas, who have significant numbers, had supported him in the last elections and the RLSP candidate belonged to the same caste.

The Kushwahas and Nitish Kumar’s own Kurmi caste are known as mythological descendants of Lord Ramas sons Luv and Kush and hence said to brother castes.

While Ashok Choudhary, Congress state president and education minister in the Nitish cabinet, put down the loss to a sympathy wave, JD(U) insiders claimed that Kumar by not campaigning sent a message that the 2015 assembly election results could not have been possible without his participation and the entire credit must not be given to the Lalu Prasad-led RJD, which won the maximum of 80 seats.

Kumar has also reached out to the Kushwahas and regained a constituency, which he had apparently lost after Upendra Kushwaha split from the JD(U) to form his RLSP.

The NDA, however, reacted differently with BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi attributing the huge win to the loss of confidence of people in the administration led by Nitish Kumar.

CPM wins Assembly bypoll in Tripura

Agartala: Ruling CPM today won the Birganj Assembly by-election in Tripura's Gomati district, with party candidate Parimal Debnath trouncing his nearest rival BJP candidate by a margin of 10,597 votes.

While Debnath secured 20,355 votes, BJP's Ranjit Das polled 9,758 votes. Congress candidate Chanchal De got only 1,231 votes and his deposit was forfeited, Returning Officer Debapriya Bardhan told reporters.

The by-poll was held on February 13. The seat had fallen vacant following the resignation of the Manoranjan Acharjee from the Assembly on December 10 last after he was expelled from CPM on charges of moral turpitude.

Acharjee had allegedly molested an eight-year-old girl inside the party office at Amarpur sub-division late last year as per an FIR lodged against him, police said.

Shiv Sena retains Palghar Assembly seat

Mumbai: Shiv Sena today retained the Palghar Assembly seat with its nominee Amit Ghoda defeating Congress candidate Rajendra Gavit by 18,948 votes. While Ghoda polled 67,129 votes, Gavit got 48,181 votes.

The by-poll was necessitated by the death of sitting Shiv Sena MLA Krishna Arjun Ghoda.

Ghoda passed away on May 24, 2015 following a heart attack and his son Amit was given a ticket by the Sena for the by-poll.

Though it was a multi-cornered contest, the real fight was between Amit Ghoda and Gavit, former Maharashtra minister.

The other contestants in the fray included former Sena leader Manisha Nimkar, who this time contested on a Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) ticket, Chandrakant Vartha (CPM) and Dileep A Dumada (Bahujan Mukti Party).

Shiromani Akali Dal wins bypoll in Punjab

The Shiromani Akali Dal won the Khadoor Sahib Assembly by-election in Punjab with its candidate Ravinder Singh Brahampura emerging victorious. He defeated the nearest Independent candidate Bhupinder Singh by 65,654 votes.

BJP wins bypoll in Madhya Pradesh

Dealing a blow to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, ruling BJP won the Maihar Assembly seat with party nominee Narayan Tripathi defeating the main opposition party's Manish Patel by a margin of 27,544 votes.