Srinagar, Nov 02:
The 29 seats, the BJP held six seats, the Congress nine, while rest of the seats were with the regional parties.
Reports said that of the five seats in Assam, the BJP is gaining in all three seats where it fielded candidates and the Congress is leading in one. “Of the two seats left to the BJP’s alliance partner UPPL, the local party is leading in one.”
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United is ahead in the one seat it held. In Rajasthan, the Congress is ahead in 2 seats–Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad, where the election is seen as a referendum on the performance of the Ashok Gehlot government, which faced a challenge last year from the Congress faction led by Sachin Pilot.
The Trinamool Congress is ahead in all four seats in Bengal. The bypolls in Dinhata and Santipur, which the BJP held, are seen as a prestige battle for the party, which is currently grappling with an exodus of MLAs and senior leaders after the Trinamool’s sweeping victory in the April-May state polls.
Reports also said that in the two seats from Karnataka, the BJP is ahead in one seat and the Congress in one. “The by-elections for Sindgi and Hangal are seen as the first electoral test for Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who had replaced BS Yediyurappa.”
Notably, the assembly by-elections were held on Saturday for five seats in Assam, four in Bengal, three each in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, two each in Bihar, Karnataka and Rajasthan and one seat each is in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram and Telangana.
The Lok Sabha seats for which by-elections were held are Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh as the sitting members had died in all three constituencies.
Reports said that among the key leaders who contested are INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who quit the Haryana assembly in protest against the Centre’s new farm laws, Congress’ Pratibha Singh, wife of late Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, former national footballer Eugeneson Lyngdoh and ex-minister from Telangana Eatala Rajender.
In Telangana, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, opposition BJP and Congress are battling for the In Huzurabad Assembly constituency, where sitting legislator Eatala Rajender stepped down after allegations of land grabbing. Mr Rajender, who dismissed the allegations, has quit the TRS and is contesting on a BJP ticket.
