The united INDIA bloc trumped the BJP in the Ghosi Assembly bypoll in Uttar Pradesh, but a splintered Opposition lost to the ruling party in the Bageshwar seat in neighbouring Uttarakhand.
Sudhakar Singh of the Samajwadi Party won by a margin of over 42,000 votes against the BJP’s Dara Singh Chauhan in Ghosi in Mau district of east Uttar Pradesh. Chauhan had been the sitting Samajwadi MLA but resigned and defected to the BJP in July and contested on a ticket of the ruling party.
The result of the Assembly bypoll in the sprawling heartland state assumes significance in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary elections as the fledgling INDIA coalition, which had fielded a consensus candidate in Ghosi, had trounced the BJP in its stronghold.
Congratulating Singh, Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav said: “It is not only the victory of the Samajwadi Party in Ghosi but also of the candidate of the INDIA alliance. This result will be replicated in the coming days.”
“It is the victory of positive politics and a defeat for negative politics,” Akhilesh said, adding that the result was a lesson for those parties that encourage shifting political loyalties and those leaders who switch allegiance “for undue gain”.
“UP will lead the country in bringing political change,” the former chief minister added.
In Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar, Parvati Das of the BJP won by a margin of 2,405 votes in a close fight with the Congress’s Basant Kumar. The Opposition was divided with the Samajwadi Party, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and the Uttarakhand Parivartan Party, three important rivals of the BJP, also fielding candidates. The three parties together, combined with NOTA, clocked over 2,900 votes, indicating that the contest could have been much closer had the Opposition been united.
The election was necessitated by the death of Chandan Ram Das, former MLA and Parvati’s husband.
Tripura
The ruling BJP in Tripura on Friday posted handsome victories in the bypolls to the two Assembly seats held on September 5, the result giving the party its first Muslim MLA in the northeastern state and also serving as a wake-up call for INDIA partners CPM and Congress.
The BJP’s Tafajjal Hossain won the Boxanagar seat by 30,237 votes, while Bindu Debnath bagged the Dhanpur seat by 18,871 votes, taking the party’s tally in the 60-member Assembly to 33.
The Congress had supported the CPM candidates in both constituencies as it had done in the Assembly polls earlier this year.
Taffajal polled 34,146 votes, trouncing the CPM’s Mizan Hossain who got 3,909 votes. Bindu garnered 30,017 votes while the CPM’s Kaushik Chanda bagged 11,146 votes. The CPM had won the Boxanagar seat in the Assembly polls in February.
Sources said the CPM and the Congress would have to work more closely to make a difference on the ground.
A senior Opposition leader said: “The CPM was in talks with the Congress and the Tipra Motha but suddenly announced its candidates. They did not involve Congress and Tipra Motha leaders in the campaign.”
Jharkhand
The INDIA-backed JMM candidate, Bebi Devi, retained the Dumri Assembly seat in Jharkhand, defeating NDA-supported Ajsu nominee Yashoda Devi by over 17,000 votes.
The result will be a morale-booster for the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance government that had lost a seat — Ramgarh — in March to the BJP-Ajsu combine.
“The election results are a tribute to the deceased Jagarnath Mahato (the former education minister who represented the constituency for four consecutive terms and whose death necessitated the bypoll).... The voters have reposed their faith in us despite all kinds of divisive tactics, misuse of federal agencies to tarnish the image of the chief minister (Hemant Soren) and money power used by the Centre (BJP) and its ally (Ajsu) in the bypoll,” JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya said.
Kerala
Congress candidate Chandy Oommen rode a sympathy wave to register a landslide victory from the Puthupally Assembly seat in Kerala, which his father and former chief minister, the late Oommen Chandy, had represented for 53 years without a break.
Chandy Oommen won by a record margin of 37,719 votes, which bettered his father’s record margin of 33,255 that he had registered against the CPM’s Suja Susan George in 2011. The seat had fallen vacant with the death of Oommen Chandy on July 18.
Chandy Oommen polled 80,144 votes, while the CPM’s Jaick C. Thomas got 42,425 votes. BJP nominee Lijin Lal could muster a mere 6,554 votes, continuing the party’s slide in the state.
Chandy Oommen credited the victory to his late father. “This is the 13th victory of my father,” he said.