New Delhi: In bypolls that were held to six assembly constituencies in five states, the BJP managed to snatch Rampur Sadar, a stronghold of disqualified Samajawadi Party leader Azam Khan, in Uttar Pradesh and another seat from the ruling Mahagathbandhan alliance in Bihar.
However, the saffron party conceded the Khatauli seat in Uttar Pradesh to the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), while status quo was maintained in the three remaining seats, results announced on Thursday, December 8, showed.
Dimple Yadav secured a massive victory in the only Lok Sabha bypoll that was held on December 5, retaining the Mainpuri seat that her father-in-law Mulayam Singh Yadav represented before his death.
The six assembly constituencies for which bypolls were held are Rampur and Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, Padampur in Odisha, Sardarshahar in Rajasthan, Kurhani in Bihar and Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh.
The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) retained the Padampur seat, while the Congress also retained the constituencies in Chhattishgarh and Rajasthan, where it is in power.
Uttar Pradesh
The BJP won the Rampur Sadar assembly seat for the first time as its candidate Akash Saxena defeated his nearest Samajwadi Party rival Asim Raja, a close associate of Azam Khan.
The bypoll to the Rampur Sadar seat was necessitated after the SP leader was sentenced to three years in jail in a hate speech case, and subsequently disqualified as MLA.
Saxena, who won by a margin of 34,136 votes, has been handed over the winners certificate by the returning officer.
In Uttar Pradesh Khatauli, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Madan Bhaiya won with a victory of margin of 22,143 votes over the BJP’s Rajkumar Saini, according to the Election Commission. The seat was earlier held by Vikram Saini of the BJP, who was disqualifed after he was convicted in a Muzaffarnagar riots case.
Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat
Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav won the Mainpuri bypoll, defeating her nearest rival, BJP candidate Raghuraj Singh Shakya, by 2,88,461 votes.
The death of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav necessitated the by-election in Mainpuri.
Dimple Yadav is the wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Voting for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat was held on December 5.
Odisha
BJP candidate Barsha Singh Bariha won the Padampur by-election in Odisha by securing over 58% of the votes polled. She had a margin of 42,679 votes over her nearest rival Pradip Purohit of the BJP.
Bariha is the daughter of late MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha, whose death in October necessitated the bypoll.
The constituency has been witnessing close battles in the last two elections. Purohit had defeated Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha by 4,513 votes in 2014. In the 2009 election, Bariha had defeated Congress candidate Satya Bhusan Sahu by 18,066 votes.
Rajasthan
The Congress won the Sardarshahar assembly bypoll and its candidate, Anil Sharma, garnered 26,852 votes more than his nearest rival, BJP candidate Ashok Kumar. Sharma is the son of Bhanwar Lal Sharma, who represented the constituency before his death in October this year.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot termed the victory as the “people’s seal on his government’s good governance and public welfare schemes”.
“Congratulations to Congress candidate Anil Sharma for the victory in the Sardarshahar bypoll and heartfelt gratitude to all voters. This victory is people’s seal of approval for the Congress government’s transparent, sensitive, accountable good governance and public welfare schemes for education, health and social security,” Gehlot tweeted in Hindi.
He also said, “It is a clear message to the public that in 2023, the Congress will form government in Rajasthan with full majority.”
सरदारशहर उपचुनाव में कांग्रेस प्रत्याशी श्री अनिल शर्मा को जीत की बधाई एवं सभी मतदाताओं का हार्दिक आभार। यह जीत कांग्रेस सरकार के पारदर्शी, संवेदनशील, जवाबदेह सुशासन एवं शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य एवं सामाजिक सुरक्षा की जनकल्याणकारी योजनाओं पर जनता की मुहर है।
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) December 8, 2022
Bihar
BJP candidate Kedar Prasad Gupta defeated Manoj Singh Kushwaha of chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] by 3,645 votes in Kurhani seat in Bihar.
In the cliffhanger of a contest, Gupta polled 76,653 votes while Kushwaha finished with 73,008 votes.
The by-election was necessitated by the disqualification of Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA Anil Kumar Sahani for fraudulent withdrawal of money when he was an MLA of the JDU. This is the second seat that the RJD-JD(U) alliance has lost to the BJP in bypolls since Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav joined hands to form the government. The BJP won the Gopalganj assembly seat last month.
Chhattisgarh
The ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh won the Bhanupratappur assembly bypoll, retaining the seat by defeating the BJP.
The bypoll, which was held on December 5, was necessitated by the death of sitting Congress MLA Manoj Singh Mandavi. His wife Savitri Mandavi has now been elected.
With this, the opposition BJP has suffered a fifth successive defeat at the hands of the ruling Congress in the assembly bypolls held after the 2018 Chhattisgarh elections.
Mandavi won the bypoll by a margin of 21,171 votes against her nearest rival Brahmanand Netam of the BJP.
Mandavi polled 65,479 votes, while the BJP’s Netam secured 44,308 votes, he said.
Former IPS officer Akbar Ram Korram, who contested as an independent, gave a spirited fight and polled 23,417 votes.
A voter turnout of 71.74% was recorded in the bypoll to this seat, reserved for the Scheduled Tribe candidates and located in the Maoist-affected Kanker district.
(With inputs from PTI)