BJP, Opposition parties bag three seats each in assembly bypolls

Congress leader Chandy Oommen greets supporters after his win in the Puthuppally by-election, in Kottayam district, on Friday. Pic/PTI

The assembly by-election results for seven seats in six states declared on Friday were a mixed bag for the BJP and the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc, with the saffron party bagging three seats and one each going to Congress, JMM and TMC, while the Samajwadi Party was also poised to win one seat.

The BJP retained the Bageshwar assembly seat in Uttarakhand and Dhanpur in Tripura and wrested Boxanagar assembly seat from CPI(M) in the northeastern state, where INDIA alliance parties had joined hands, but lost the Dhupguri assembly seat in West Bengal to the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Hailing its victory in Tripura bypolls, the BJP claimed that it was the end of the road for the communists in the northeastern state, which was once known as a Left bastion. BJP's in-charge for the northeastern region Sambit Patra said the results are a body blow to the "ghamandiya" (arrogant) alliance of Opposition parties.

The opposition alliance tasted victory in Jharkhand, where the JMM retained the Dumri assembly seat, and in the Ghosi assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh, where it backed the Samajwadi Party.

"It is a win for positive politics and a defeat for negative communal politics... It is Bharat starting towards I.N.D.I.A's victory," SP chief Akhilesh Yatra said, declaring his party's victory even though the formal result was yet to be announced.

The bypolls were the first electoral test for the I.N.D.IA alliance of 28 parties formed r.ecently to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls next year. Of the seven seats where bypolls were held on September 5, three were earlier held by the BJP, and one each was with the Congress, SP, CPI(M) and JMM.

The opposition Congress-UDF in Kerala retained the Puthuppally Assembly constituency in Kerala as its candidate Chandy Oommen, son of late Congress stalwart Oommen Chandy, trounced ruling LDF candidate Jaick C Thomas.

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While Oommen gathered 80,144 votes, Thomas could get only 42,425 votes. BJP candidate Lijin Lal finished a distant third with 6,558 votes.

Jharkhand Mukti Moracha's Bebi Devi won in Dumri in Giridih district by defeating AJSU's Yashoda Devi by over 17,000 votes, according to a district administration official.

28
No. of political parties in the I.N.D.I.A. alliance

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