POST-POLL BOOSTER: The INDIA bloc on Saturday bagged 10 of the 13 seats across seven states where Assembly by-elections were held this week, restricting the BJP to 2, in the first round of elections since Rahul Gandhi challenged the saffron party
on its preferred pitch of Hindutva.

When Rahul alleged in Parliament that the BJP’s brand of Hinduism was based on “fear” and “terror”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his lieutenants sought to project it as an attempt to malign an entire religious community.

Apprehensive of the BJP’s propaganda machine, the Congress worked overtime to counter the charge lest it have a big impact on the by-elections and stall the momentum that had energised the Opposition after the Lok Sabha results.

Saturday’s outcomes are bound to render the INDIA bloc even more buoyant and belligerent when Parliament meets a week later for the budget session, although they make no material change to the numbers in the Lok Sabha or the politics of the seven states.

The lone exception, possibly, is Himachal Pradesh where the BJP had tried to bring down the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government earlier this year.

With the Congress winning two of the three seats up for grabs in Himachal, its government can now breathe easy. The Congress had led even from Hamirpur till early afternoon, before the BJP candidate pulled ahead and maintained his lead to win by 1,571 votes.

It was similar in Amarwara, Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP candidate won by just over 3,000 votes after trailing in successive rounds.

In both states, the by-elections had been necessitated by the BJP’s machinations. Three Independent MLAs in Himachal had resigned after voting for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections; only one of them managed to win his seat on Saturday on the BJP symbol.

The Amarwara seat in Madhya Pradesh had fallen vacant after the sitting Congress MLA, Kamlesh Pratap Shah, joined the BJP. He did manage to win.

The majority of these by-elections were forced on the electorate because of poaching, mostly by the BJP — which is pushing for simultaneous elections from the panchayats to Parliament — and in a smaller measure by the Trinamool Congress. But Trinamool’s strike rate was way better with the turncoats it fielded.

The victory in Punjab came as a shot in the arm for the beleaguered Aam Aadmi Party after its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

The previous party MLA from the Jalandhar West seat, Sheetal Angural, contested for the BJP this time and lost. The Congress has argued the verdict is a rejection of the BJP brand of politics, coming on the heels of the Lok Sabha results that sought to rein Modi in.

Bihar sprang a surprise with an Independent trouncing the JDU candidate in Rupauli, while the Vikravandi seat in Tamil Nadu went as expected to the DMK. The NDA candidate from the PMK was defeated by a large margin although the AIADMK-DMDK boycott of the by-election had left the field open for the anti-DMK vote to rally around him.

In a post on X, Rahul said: “The results of the by-elections in 7 states have made it clear that the web of ‘fear and confusion’ woven by the BJP has been broken. Every class including farmers, youth, labourers, businessmen and employed people want to completely destroy dictatorship and establish the rule of justice.

“The public is now completely standing with INDIA for the betterment of their lives and protection of the Constitution. Hail India, Hail Constitution.”

The Congress had more reason to rejoice. Six of the 13 seats represented straight fights with the BJP — three in Himachal, two in Uttarakhand and one in Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress won four — two each in Uttarakhand and Himachal. Both states had given all their Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in the summer elections.

Saturday’s wins come after an improved performance in straight fights against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, where more than half the Congress’s 99 seats came from direct contests with the ruling party.

This not only boosted the party’s morale but also helped it somewhat silence allegations within the INDIA bloc of being the weak link, unable to take the BJP on in states where the two parties were in direct contest.