The Assembly by-election results on Thursday brought some solace for the Congress as it wrested one seat each from the BJP and the TMC in Maharashtra and West Bengal, respectively, and retained a seat in Tamil Nadu with DMK’s support. The BJP and its ally All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) party bagged one seat each in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
Sagardighi Assembly byelection result
The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal suffered a major blow in the Sagardighi seat where Congress candidate Bayron Biswas won by a huge margin of 22,986 votes. In the West Bengal Assembly, Congress is in power in just this seat. Following the defeat, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee alleged an “immoral” alliance of the Congress, CPI-M and the BJP for the party’s crushing defeat.
“For the Sagardighi loss, I do not blame anyone… But, there is an immoral alliance, which we strongly condemn. The BJP transferred its votes to the Congress…. everyone played the communal card. The BJP, of course, played the communal card. The Congress, CPI(M), however, turned out to be bigger players in this regard,” Banerjee said.
The by-election was necessitated following the death of state minister Subrata Saha in December 2022.
Maharashtra: Chinchwad-Kasba Peth Assembly byelection result
While the BJP won the Chinchwad seat in Maharashtra’s Pune, it was defeated at the Kasba Peth Assembly seat, which was a BJP stronghold where the party has been in power for the last 28 years. Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar, who was supported by the MVA, polled 73,194 votes while Rasane received 62,244 votes. The latter was defeated by a margin of 10,915 votes.
The by-election was necessitated due to the death of incumbent BJP MLAs Mukta Tilak.
In the Chindchwad bypoll, which was necessitated following the death of BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap, BJP candidate Ashwini Laxman Jagtap won defeating Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Nana Kate by 36,168 votes. While Jagtap polled 1,35,434 votes, Kate had polled 99,343 votes. Another Independent candidate Kalate Rahul Tanaji won 44,082 votes, according to the Election Commission.
Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said that the by-poll result was “encouraging”. The party’s performance was dismal in the Assembly elections of three northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
The Maharashtra bypolls saw the first direct contest between the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the opposing MVA after the June political crisis, and because of this, party heavyweights, including NCP president Sharad Pawar, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis campaigned for their respective candidates.
Tamil Nadu: Erode East byelection result
Ruling DMK-backed Congress nominee EVKS Elangovan won in the Erode East by-election, with the candidate polling more than one lakh of the 1.7 lakh votes polled on February 27. He defeated KS Thennarasu from the AIADMK party who had polled 43,819 votes.
Following the win, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the win set the ground for an even bigger victory for the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
BJP state president K Annamalai said he did not see it as an endorsement of the government’s performance and indicated factors like “sympathy” were also there, apparently referring to Elangovan being the father of E Thirumahan Everaa, the Congress MLA whose demise in January necessitated the byelection.
Jharkhand: Ramgarh byelection result
AJSU Party candidate Sunita Choudhary won from Jharkhand’s Ramgarh defeating UPA-backed Congress’ Bajrang Mahto by a margin of 21,970 votes. The AJSU Party, which tied up with the BJP for the by-poll, secured 1,15,595 votes, while the Congress, an ally of the ruling JMM-led coalition, bagged 93,653 votes.
The by-election was necessitated due to the disqualification of Congress legislator Mamta Devi, following her conviction in a criminal case.
Arunachal Pradesh: Lumla byelection result
In Arunachal Pradesh’s Lumla seat, BJP candidate Tsering Lhamu was declared elected as MLA without a contest on February 10. She is the widow of the former MLA Jambey Tashi, whose death in November last year necessitated the by-poll.