New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress swept the by-polls for both Asansol Lok Sabha and Ballygunge assembly constituencies in West Bengal on Saturday. The Congress also managed to bag a constituency each in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, while Rashtriya Janata Dal scored the one seat in Bihar. Except for Bihar, all the winners were from the respective ruling party or alliance in these states.
BJP, on the other hand, failed to open its account, witnessing a decline in the party’s vote share in these seats. The fact that the decline in vote share–just around two years left for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections– is a matter of concern for the saffron party was indirectly accepted by the party’s defeated candidate in Asansol, Agnimitra Paul.
“Just two years are left for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The party leadership should introspect the reasons behind this disaster and work accordingly. I do not want to give any excuse for my defeat. I accept the people’s verdict,” said Paul, who is already a sitting BJP legislator from Asansol (South) Assembly constituency.
West Bengal
In West Bengal, all eyes were on new TMC recruits and former BJP members — movie actor-turned-politicians Shatrughan Sinha and Babul Supriyo. Sinha drubbed BJP’s Agnimitra Paul by 3,03,209 votes in Asansol. The BJP had won the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by 1.97 lakh votes when Supriyo who was then in the BJP beat TMC’s Moon Moon Sen.
Supriyo, who was nominated by the TMC from the prestigious Ballygunge assembly constituency, defeated CPI(M)’s Saira Shah Halim by a margin of 20,228 votes. BJP’s Keya Ghosh managed to bag just 13,220 votes. The bypoll, which took place on April 12, was necessitated as state minister Subrata Mukherjee, who represented Ballygunge, died last year.
Maharashtra
In a boost to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) combine in Maharashtra, the Congress won the bypoll to the Kolhapur North assembly constituency, retaining the seat by defeating the BJP by a margin of over 18,000 votes. Congress-MVA candidate Jayashri Jadhav bagged 96,176 votes, while BJP’s Satyajeet Kadam polled 77,426 votes. The by-election was necessitated because of the death of sitting Congress MLA Chandrakant Jadhav due to Covid in December 2021.
Chhattisgarh
The ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh on Saturday won the bypoll to the Khairagarh assembly constituency in Rajnandgaon district with Yashoda Verma defeating her nearest rival Komal Janghel of the BJP by a margin of 20,176 votes. Verma got 87,879 votes while Janghel secured 67,703 votes, he said. The byelection was held following the death of incumbent JCC (J) MLA and former MP Devvrat Singh in November 2021.
Bihar
The opposition RJD in Bihar wrested the Bochahan assembly seat from the ruling NDA, with its candidate defeating the BJP nominee by a big margin of over 35,000 votes. RJD candidate Amar Paswan, whose father Musafir Paswan’s death had necessitated the by-election, polled 82,116 votes while his nearest BJP rival Baby Kumari got only 45,353.
