Tuesday saw the TMC sweep Assembly polls in West Bengal, the Congress prevailing in Himachal and Rajasthan and the BJP and its allies sweeping northeast bypolls.
In Bengal, Mamata Banerjee pulverised challenger BJP as her ruling TMC won all the four Assembly seats with 75 percent vote share, adding more insult and injury to the saffron party since its defeat in the March-April state polls when it ensconced firmly as the main Opposition but failed to unseat her.
But the BJP can find solace in the performance of its two prominent regional straps -- Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and seasoned campaigner and Madhya Pradesh chief mnister Shivraj Singh Chouhan -- delivering the goods for the party in their home states and a mix bag for Karnataka counterpart Basavaraj Bommai.
The worst news for the BJP came in Himachal Pradesh where its main rival Congress made a clean sweep in three Assembly seats and in the bypolls to one Lok Sabha seat earlier held by the BJP. The party failed to save even its deposit in Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly constituency.
The results may prompt the BJP to review the performance of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur-led government. Himachal Pradesh, incidentally, is slated to go to the polls in end 2022 along with Gujarat where the party had recently replaced the entire cabinet, including Vijay Rupani, with a new set of team under Bhupendra Patel.
Polling for three parliamentary seats and 29 Assembly constituencies were held on 30 October, an exercise being seen as a barometer of the political mood in the country ahead of Assembly elections in politically critical Uttar Pradesh as well as other states.
Mamata prevails in Bengal
Banerjee's Trinamool Congress got a ringing endorsement by the electors as it not only bagged all seats that went to bypoll on 30 October, but also seized two from the BJP, which surrendered rather meekly after a creditable performance in the March-April Assembly elections when it won 77 of the 292 seats where polling was held.
TMC candidates not only polled more than one lakh votes each in Dinhata, Gosaba, Khardaha and Santipur, but also the party's vote share stood at a staggering 75.02 percent against BJP's measly 14.48 percent.
On the other hand, BJP candidates for Dinhata, Gosaba and Khardaha forfeited their security deposit. India's electoral law says a candidate garnering less than one sixth of the votes polled will lose their security deposit.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday declared victory in all four seats which went for bypolls. She tweeted to congratulate all the winners. She said, "Bengal will always choose development and unity over propaganda and hate politics."
Pitching herself as the pivot of anti-BJP politics at the national level following her impressive Assembly poll win, the West Bengal chief minister led a humiliating rout of its main rival in all four Assembly seats, including in two seats where the BJP had won but the winners quit to keep their Lok Sabha membership.
The ruling Trinamool Congress on Tuesday worsted its rivals by record margins, to romp home to a 4-0 clean sweep in the by-elections held on 30 October.
The TMC wrested the Dinhata and Santipur seats in Coochbehar and Nadia districts respectively from the BJP by huge margins, to raise its tally to 215 in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly. The BJP, whose predecessor Jan Sangh was founded by Bengal’s Hindu Mahasabha leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee, saw its tally came down to 75 from an earlier 77.
The ruling TMC also retained the Khardah and Gosaba Assembly seats in North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts respectively by impressive margins. The BJP got some 14.48 peracent votes, in the four Assembly segments.
In Dinhata which had returned BJP’s Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik in elections held earlier this year by a slender margin, the margin of victory for TMC crossed the record landmark of 1.64 lakh votes.
Dinhata, this time round, witnessed a one-sided fight where TMC's Udayan Guha won over his nearest rival, BJP's Ashok Mandal, by a massive margin of 1,64,089 votes.
The TMC's victory in Dinhata in North Bengal is significant in view of the controversial demand for creating a Union Territory comprising all districts of the region, by BJP's Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs John Barla.
Barla had sparked a political debate in the state when he called for bifurcation of Bengal, drawing a sharp retort from the TMC and other parties.
The by-election to this North Bengal constituency was necessitated by Paramanik’s decision to continue as a Lok Sabha MP for the district of Coochbehar in which Dinhata, a picturesque constituency, nestles.
The Trinamool Congress candidate Subrata Mondal Tuesday too won the Gosaba Assembly by-poll by a massive margin of 1,43,051 votes.
TMC's Subrata Mondal secured 1,61,474 votes, whereas BJP's Palash Rana, his nearest rival, garnered a mere 18,423 votes.
The by-poll for the Gosaba Assembly segment in the Sunderbans deltaic region, was necessitated by the death of the sitting TMC MLA few months back.
In Santipur Assembly constituency, famous for its handloom industry which had turned into a BJP citadel in the Assembly elections held earlier this year, TMC's Braja Kishore Goswami led over his nearest rival - BJP's Niranjan Biswas – by a record 64,675 votes.
The Santipur by-election too was necessitated by the resignation of the BJP’s Jagganath Sarkar who had won the seat in elections held earlier this year as he too wished to retain his Member of Parliament seat.
In the Khardah Assembly segment, state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay defeated his nearest rival - BJP's Joy Saha - by a margin of 93,832 votes.
Chattopadhyay secured 1,14,086 votes, whereas Saha managed to bag 20,254 votes.
The bypoll to Khardah too was necessitated following the death of a sitting TMC MLA.
Hours before the EC announced its final results, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee congratulated her party candidates for the "victory".
Taking a dig at BJP's defeat in the polls, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee tweeted, "A cracker free Diwali in true sense. Wishing folks at @BJP4India a very Happy Diwali!"
West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar blamed the defeat on the "reign of terror unleashed by the TMC".
"Margin of more than one lakh in by-polls is unimaginable. We can very well understand the kind of terror that was unleashed by the ruling party to stop people from voting freely and fairly," he said.
TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee denied the allegations, terming them as baseless.
"This is the beginning of the end for BJP. The more it will speak on communal lines, the more it will be rejected by the people of West Bengal," he said.
The BJP had won 77 of the 292 seats of the West Bengal Assembly that went to the polls earlier this year in April-May. The Trinamool Congress had then won 213 seats, while ISF and GJM bagged one seat each.
Following the resignation of Pramanik and Sarkar, the saffron camp's official tally in the Assembly came down to 75.
The TMC's tally too came down to 211 after two of its MLAs from Gosaba and Khardah died. With the victory in Samserganj and Jangipur last month, the ruling party's tally went up to 213 seats.
With the ruling party snatching Dinhata and Santipur from the saffron camp, its tally has now gone up to 215 seats.
Assam
The BJP and its ally UPPL won all five seats in Assam with chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's ploy of having three sitting Congress MLAs to cross over to the saffron camp paying off as all of them won on its ticket in the bypolls with big margins.
The saffron party bagged three seats and its ally United Peoples' Party Liberal (UPPL) emerged victorious in the two others, according to the Election Commission of India on Tuesday.
The BJP's Phani Talukdar, Rupjyoti Kurmi and Sushanta Borgohain retained their respective Bhabanipur, Mariani and Thowra seats which they had won in the Assembly elections held earlier this year on tickets given by other parties but resigned after joining the saffron party.
Kurmi retained the Mariani Assembly constituency for the sixth time defeating Congress candidate Luhit Konwar by 40,104 votes while Talukdar won the Bhabanipur seat for the second time beating Sailendra Das of the grand old party by 25,641 votes.
Borgohain also retained the Thowra constituency winning by a margin of 30,561 votes over Raijor Dal's Dhaijya Konwar, who fought as an independent candidate.
The BJP's ally UPPL wrested the Gossaigaon constituency with its candidate Jiron Basumatary defeating Congress nominee Jowel Tudu by a margin of 28,252 votes while another party candidate Jolen Daimary beat his nearest rival, independent candidate Ganesh Kachary, by 57,059 votes in the Tamulpur seat.
The by-elections to these two constituencies were necessitated following the deaths of BPF and UPPL MLAs in Gossaigaon and Tamulpur respectively.
Kurmi, a firebrand leader of the tea-tribe community, had earlier won for five consecutive terms from Mariani on a Congress ticket but resigned from the party in June to join the BJP alleging that the party's national leaders do not listen to the voices of the workers at the grassroot level.
Borgohain had first won from Thowra on a Congress ticket in 2011 but lost the subsequent election in 2016. He went on to wrest the seat from the BJP's Kushal Dowari in 2021 but resigned from the Congress and the Assembly in July citing "changed internal political atmosphere" within the party.
Talukdar had contested on an AIUDF ticket from Bhabanipur winning for the first time in the 2021 Assembly polls after contesting unsuccessfully several times as an independent candidate in earlier Assembly polls. He resigned from the AIUDF in August and joined the BJP.
With these results, the BJP's strength in the 126-member Assam Assembly increased to 62 and UPPL’s to eight. The other partner in the ruling coalition, Asom Gana Parishad, which had not fielded any candidate in this bypoll, has nine MLAs.
On the opposition bench, the Congress' strength is 27, AIUDF has 15 members, BPF three, the CPI(M) one and there is an Independent MLA as well.
Himachal Pradesh
The Congress on Tuesday won the Mandi Lok Sabha and all three Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh, a setback for the ruling BJP, with chief minister Jai Ram Thakur saying the party will introspect.
The Mandi Parliamentary seat, which was earlier held by the BJP, was won by former chief minister Virbhadra Singh's wife Pratibha Singh.
She defeated BJP's Khushal Thakur, a Kargil war hero, by a margin of 7,490 votes.
Mandi is the home district of CM Thakur, who alleged that some BJP workers "operated" against the party candidates but said they will introspect.
The Congress retained Fatehpur and Arki Assembly seats while it wrested Jubbal-Kotkhai seat from the BJP, according to results announced by the Election Commission.
The BJP failed to save its deposit in Jubbal-Kotkhai.
Congress candidates Bhawani Singh Pathania, Sanjay and Rohit Thakur won from Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai Assembly constituencies, respectively.
In Mandi, Pratibha Singh got 3,69,565 votes against 3,62,075 secured by the BJP candidate.
Bhawani Singh Pathania (24,449) of the Congress beat BJP's Baldev Thakur (18,660) by a margin of 5,789 in Fatehpur.
Former state minister Dr Rajan Sushant got 12,927 votes as an independent candidate.
In Arki, Congress candidate Sanjay (30,798) won with a margin of 3,219 votes from BJP's Rattan Singh Pal (27,579).
In Jubbal-Kotkhai, Rohit Thakur (29,955) of the Congress won by 6,293 votes, defeating independent candidate Chetan Singh Bragta (23,662). BJP candidate Neelam Seraik failed to save her deposit and got only 2,644 votes.
State Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on moral grounds after the BJP's defeat.
He told reporters that the Congress has won the "semifinal" and will also emerge victorious in the Assembly elections in December next year.
On the other hand, Thakur said the BJP will introspect the causes which led to the party’s defeat in the bypolls. Thakur alleged that some BJP workers operated against the party candidates. "Action will be taken against them," he said.
"The party will formulate a strategy to overcome its shortcomings and do everything possible to ensure victory in the 2022 Assembly elections," Thakur said.
Madhya Pradesh
The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday won bypolls to Jobat (SC) and Prithvipur Assembly seats by wresting them from Congress but ceded Raigaon (SC) constituency to the opposition party, officials said.
In nutshell, Congress lost both the seats- Jobat (SC) and Prithvipur- held by it before the bypolls but managed to avoid a whitewash by wresting Raigaon (ST) segment from the saffron party. Raigaon, a traditional BJP seat, was wrested from the party after 31 years.
Of the four seats for which byelections were held on Saturday, the Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency and Raigaon Assembly seat were earlier held by BJP.
Meanwhile, in Khandwa, the Bharatiya Janata Party has retained its Lok Sabha seat in Khandwa.
With this, the BJP has won all the four seats in Madhya Pradesh. It won Prithvipur with a margin of 15,678 votes and Jobat with 6,104 BJP nominee Gyaneshwar Patil has increased his lead over the nearest rival from Congress, Rajnarayan Singh Purni, by 82,140 votes, as per the trends.
The Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after the death of sitting BJP MP Nandkumar Singh Chauhan.
Congress candidate from Raigaon (SC) seat in the Satna district, Kalpana Verma, defeated her nearest rival from BJP, Pratima Bagri, by a margin of 12,290 votes. Verma has polled 72,989 votes and Bagri 60,699, an Election Commission official said.
In the Prithvipur Assembly seat in the Niwari district, Congress nominee Nitendra Singh Rathore went down fighting against BJP's Shishupal Yadav, who won by a margin of 15,687 votes. Yadav bagged 82,673 votes and Rathore 66,986, another official said.
The BJP also wrested Jobat (ST) Assembly constituency in the Alirajpur district from Congress with the saffron party candidate Sulochana Rawat defeating her nearest rival Mahesh Patel by a margin of 6,104 votes.
Rawat has polled 68,949 votes while Patel managed to secure 62,845 votes, officials added.
The bypolls on these seats were held along with the Khandwa Lok Sabha seat on October 30.
A total of 48 candidates were in the fray for the bypolls held to four seats, necessitated due to the death of sitting MLAs and an MP.
Counting of votes began at 8 am on Tuesday amid tight security. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP snatched two Assembly seats from the Congress but lost a sitting seat to the opposition party.
While there has long been speculation about the fate of Chouhan as chief minister, the results will boost his standing, more so as the BJP has suffered in states where it lacks an established face.
Rajasthan
The ruling Congress on Tuesday won the bypolls to the Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad Assembly segments in Rajasthan, pushing the opposition BJP to the third and fourth places there.
Before the bypolls, the Dhariawad seat was represented by the BJP and Vallabhnagar by the Congress.
With the win, the tally of the Congress in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly reached 108 against BJP’s 71 MLAs.
The BJP has accepted defeat in the bypolls, with its state chief Satish Poonia saying it depended on "local equations".
In Pratapgarh's Dhariawad, Congress candidate Nagraj Meena won by a margin of 18,725 votes.
Meena defeated his nearest rival and Independent candidate Thawarchand, according to the result declared by the Election Commission.
Nagraj and Thawarchand secured 69,819 (39.16 percent) and 51,094 (28.66 percent) votes, respectively.
BJP candidate Khet Singh stood third with 46,487 (26.08 percent) votes.
Meanwhile, Preeti Shaktawat defeated Rashtriya Loktantrik Party's candidate Udailal Dangi in Vallabhnagar by a margin of 20,606 votes.
Shaktawat received 65,713 votes and Dangi 45,107. Dangi is a BJP rebel who contested as an RLP candidate.
Former BJP MLA and chief of the Janta Sena, Randhir Singh Bhindar, who contested as an independent candidate, stood third by securing 43,817 votes.
BJP candidate Himmat Singh Jhala got 21,433 votes.
Preeti Shaktawat is the wife of former MLA Gajendra Singh Shaktawat, who had died due to coronavirus.
After the results, chief minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted that people have stamped on their policies, programmes and good governance.
He said by supporting the Congress candidates, people have given more strength to the state government.
"Congratulations and best wishes to Preeti Shaktawat and Nagaraj Meena for their victory in the Assembly by-elections. Gratitude to the voters of both constituencies and congratulations to the workers and leaders of the Congress party," he tweeted.
Congress State President Govind Singh Dotasra said that the bypolls results indicate that Congress government in the state is doing good job and the party will form government again in the upcoming Assembly elections in 2023 with a huge margin.
"This is a direct message that there is no anti-government wave and its popularity has increased. Our government is doing a good job and Congress will form government in Rajasthan again in 2023," Dotasra said.
On the other hand, the BJP accepted defeat in the bypolls, with the party's state chief Satish Poonia saying it was "circumstantial" and depended on "local equations".
"This defeat is natural; is circumstantial and depended on local equations and issues," he said.
"We have to learn and move forward with lessons while maintaining morale, confidence and avoiding criticism. Even when we were in power, we had moved ahead by taking lessons from the defeat in the bypolls," Poonia tweeted.
State Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariawas said the Congress contested the elections on the governance delivered by the Ashok Gehlot government and raised issues of the rise in petrol, diesel and LPG gas prices.
He said the results showed that the leadership of Ashok Gehlot is successful. In Rajasthan, the BJP’s central leadership’s efforts to groom a fresh crop of leaders outside the influence of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje seemed to be not paying dividends so far as the Congress, despite intense internal feud, thumped its rival.
The BJP not only lost the two bypolls, its candidates stood third and fourth in the Dhariawad and Vallabhnagar segments respectively.
Telangana
The BJP won the Huzurabad Assembly seat from the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with BJP’s Eatela Rajender defeating the TRS' Gellu Srinivas Yadav by a margin of 24,068. Rajender secured 1,06,780 votes while Yadav managed to bag 82,712 votes.
The BJP, however, again underlined its emergence as the main rival to the ruling TRS in Telangana. Its candidate Eatala Rajender, a popular former minister who quit the TRS to join it, emerged victorious despite his former party pulling out all the stops to vanquish him.
Karnataka
In what is being seen as a bittersweet result for the ruling BJP in Karnataka, the saffron party won the Sindgi Assembly segment, but lost the Hangal seat to Congress, in the bypolls to two constituencies.
The BJP's loss in Hangal is also seen as a "setback" to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, as it is the neighbouring constituency to his Shiggaon Assembly segment in Haveri district, where he had extensively campaigned.
This was also the first major electoral challenge for Bommai, after taking charge as CM in July this year.
While, the Congress, which seemed to be satisfied with its performance, tried to project the results as a precursor to the 2023 Assembly polls, JD(S) that had fielded Muslim candidates in both constituencies, camea distant third, and even lost the deposits.
According to results announced by the Election Commission of India on Tuesday, Ramesh Bhusanur of BJP won in Sindgi seat by a margin of 31,185 votes, by securing 93,865 votes, while his closest rival Congress' Ashok Managuli secured 62,680 votes.
In Hangal, Congress' Srinivas Mane won by a margin of 7,373 votes, securing 87,490 votes, while his closest rival Shivaraj Sajjanar of BJP bagged 80,117 votes.
The bypolls for two seats was necessitated as they had fallen vacant, following the death of Sindgi JD(S) legislator M C Managuli and BJP's C M Udasi from Hangal.
With the loss in Hangal being projected as a setback to him, CM Bommai said, "Elections are won and lost....these bye-elections are fought on particular time and issues, and its outcome is not a complete verdict. However, I have taken this election setback very seriously and we will do all the corrections."
Stating that the BJP will make all the preparations for the 2023 general elections, while asserting that the bypoll results will not have any impact on it, he said, "We will take the loss seriously and take all the necessary measures politically and administratively to convert the loss into win."
Coming to Bommai's defence, state BJP strongman and former CM BS Yediyurappa said there was no question of raising doubts on Chief Minister's leadership, as the bypolls was fought under collective leadership, and that the loss or win should be shared equally without holding any one person responsible for it.
"Party will introspect about the loss in Hangal. We will rectify the shortcomings if any," he said, as he asked Congress leaders not to rejoice as though they have made a great achievement, and asserted that BJP will win more than 140 seats in 2023 Assembly polls and come to power.
BJP's inability to retain Hangal is seen as a setback to Bommai personally, considering his personal relationship with the segment, from where his wife and few other family members hail, him campaigning there for about 10 days, and deputing at least 10 ministers for ensuring party's victory there.
Citing BJP's loss of credibility for its defeat in Hangal, Congress' Karnataka working president Saleem Ahmed, who was in-charge for the bypolls, said, after losing in 2018, Mane (the Congress candidate) had stayed amidst people of the constituency, and tried to address their issues and concerns, which helped him win.
Bommai too, while conceding that BJP's inability to shift late MLA C M Udasi's personal vote base to the party candidate led to its defeat, said people also have recognised Congress candidate Mane's work during COVID times.
Further, pointing out that in Mane's victory, Congress has ensured election of a non-Lingayat in a Lingayat-dominated seat, a senior party functionary, on condition of anonymity, said, "all sections have voted for Congress.
There is 60,000-strong Lingayat votes, we have got major chunk of it and there is consolidation of Muslim votes in our favour, which has put the party in the advantage position."
Congress leaders also seemed to be satisfied with the party's performance in the bypolls, as it has succeeded in snatching away Hangal seat from the BJP, while improving its performance in Sindgi, where it was in the third spot, after 2018 Assembly polls.
State Congress Chief D K Shivakumar said the results of this bypolls indicate that people of the state are desiring for a change in the state, they have lost faith in the BJP and are looking towards Congress, "so in 2023 it will be the administration of the people through Congress."
Terming defeat in Hangal as "loss of face" not only for CM, but the entire BJP government, he said, compared to previous elections, the Congress was satisfied with the results in Sindgi, despite losing it.
Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah terming the bypolls results as "warning bell" to the ruling BJP said, it shows that people are desiring for change, and BJP's image and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity is coming down.
He also felt that lack of coordination or understanding between party workers and those who came from JD(S) with Ashok Managuli (when he switched the party), might have led to Congress' loss in Sindgi.
Despite actively campaigning for bypolls, especially in Sindgi, regional party, the JD(S), could not make much impact in the bypolls.
Noting that party has lost deposit in both Sindgi and Hangal Assembly segments, its leader H D Kumaraswamy, however, said, he has not lost hope and the complete focus will now be on coming to power independently after 2023 Assembly polls, by strengthening the party organisation.
"This bypolls will not have any impact on Assembly polls", he said, adding that he does not give much importance to bypolls, but felt let down by the performance in Sindgi, and blamed bad organisational strength and money power of other parties for it.
An estimated 69.47 percent voter turnout was recorded in Sindgi Assembly constituency, while it was 83.76 percent in Hangal segment during the 30 October voting.
A total of 19 candidates were in the fray in the two constituencies, including six from Sindgi and 13 from Hangal. Two candidates from Sindgi were women.
Haryana
INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala won the Ellenabad bypoll after defeating his nearest rival, Gobind Kanda of the BJP, with a margin of 6,739 votes on Tuesday.
Kanda, a candidate put up by the BJP-JJP ruling combine, gave a close fight to Chautala, whose resignation in January against the Centre's farm laws had necessitated the October 30 bypoll.
The results, however, came as a disappointment for the main opposition Congress as its candidate Pawan Beniwal trailed at the third spot and lost security deposit.
Over 81 percent of 1.86 lakh voters had cast their vote.
According to the result declared by the Election Commission, Indian National Lok Dal's Abhay Chautala (58) defeated BJP's Gobind Kanda with a margin of 6,739 votes.
This was Chautala's fourth win from the family's traditional stronghold seat and fifth electoral win in an Assembly poll.
While Chautala polled a total of 65,992 votes, Kanda secured 59,253 votes and Beniwal got 20,904 votes.
However, the victory margin of Chautala was down from the 2019 Assembly polls when he won by over 12,000 votes from Ellenabad.
The win was crucial for INLD as Chautala was the lone party MLA in the 90-member Haryana Assembly. A defeat would have dealt a blow to the party which has suffered a series of electoral setbacks in recent years.
In the Haryana Assembly, the ruling BJP has 40 members, the JJP 10 and the Congress 31. Seven are Independents, five of whom are supporting the government, while one member is of the Haryana Lokhit Party. After his win, Chautala is once again the lone INLD member in the Assembly.
Among the twelve independents who were in the fray, Vikram Pal secured maximum 575 votes. As many as 480 voters opted for the NOTA option.
Abhay secured 43.49 percent of the over 1.51 lakh votes polled, while the BJP candidate got 39.05 percent of the votes and the Congress candidate got 13.78 percent of the votes.
In the 2019 elections, Beniwal had finished second from the Ellenabad seat, which Chautala won.
While there were 19 candidates in the fray, most of them Independents, the main contest eventually turned out to be between Chautala and Kanda.
Chautala maintained a consistent lead during the first seven rounds of counting but the margin dropped from 8,180 votes to 2,985 in the subsequent two rounds. However, Chautala again increased his lead and won. This was his third win in a byelection.
Gobind Kanda, the brother of Haryana Lokhit Party chief and MLA Gopal Kanda, joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last month.
Gopal Kanda, the MLA from Sirsa, has extended support to the BJP-JJP government in Haryana.
Beniwal, who had unsuccessfully contested the previous Assembly polls against Chautala, recently switched over from the BJP to the Congress.
Abhay Chautala, the younger son of INLD president and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, had won the Rori Assembly bypoll in Sirsa district in 2000.
Ellenabad, a predominantly rural constituency, has been a traditional stronghold for the Chautala clan.
Abhay Chautala won the 2010 bypoll from Ellenabad, when Om Prakash Chautala vacated the seat to retain the Uchana seat in Jind district, the other constituency from which he had contested the election in 2009 and won.
Chautala retained the Ellenabad seat in 2014 as well. He again won from Ellenabad in the 2019 Assembly polls, when he was the lone INLD MLA to enter the House.The Assembly by-election in Ellenabad in Haryana had drawn a lot of interest for the likely political fallout of farmers’ protest, and while the BJP lost the seat but its vote share has risen compared to the 2021 polls.
INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala, who had resigned in solidarity with the farmers’ demand, retained the seat but faced a stronger challenge for the main rival this time.
Andhra Pradesh
The ruling YSR Congress on Tuesday retained the Badvel (SC) Assembly seat in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh in the bye-election, securing a record margin of 90,533 votes, in a rather one-sided contest.
YSRC's Dasari Sudha trounced BJP's Panathala Suresh in the bypoll held on October 30.
She polled 1,12,211 votes (76.25 percent), while her rival secured only 21,678 (14.73 percent) as the ballots were counted on Tuesday.
Of the 2,15,292 total votes in the constituency, 68.38 percent were polled. The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of sitting legislator Venkata Subbaiah in March.
The YSRC fielded his widow Sudha for the bypoll and she won by a record margin, though it fell short of the party’s target of one lakh.
In 2019, Venkata Subbiah won by 44,734 votes. The main opposition party TDP did not contest the bye-election.
Congress' P M Kamalamma polled just 6,235 votes and forfeited her deposit. A significant 2.48 percent (3,650) voters preferred NOTA.
In a tweet, YSRC president and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy thanked the Badvel voters for the resounding victory. He also complimented the winning candidate.
Bihar
The ruling JD(U) in Bihar on Tuesday retained both Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan seats, where bypolls were held.
In Tarapur, JD(U) candidate Rajiv Kumar Singh defeated his nearest rival of the RJD, Arun Kumar Sah, by a slender margin of less than 4,000 votes, according to the Election Commission.
Singh polled 78,966 votes as against 75,145 of Sah.<br> Tarapur fell vacant following the death of JD(U) MLA Mewa Lal Chaudhary.
The ruling party, earlier in the day, bagged the Kusheshwar Asthan seat by a comfortable margin of more than 12,000 votes.
JD(U)'s Aman Bhushan Hazari, the death of whose father had necessitated the by-election, polled 58,882 votes. RJD candidate Ganesh Bharti secured 47,184 votes.
Maharashtra
The Congress on Tuesday retained Deglur (SC) Assembly constituency in Maharashtra's Nanded district with the party nominee Jitesh Raosaheb Antapurkar defeating his nearest BJP rival Subhash Pirajirao Sabne by a margin of 41,917 votes in the byelection, as per the Election Commission.
Jitesh Antapurkar has polled 1,08,840 votes while Sabne, a former Shiv Sena leader, could bag 66,907 votes.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi candidate Uttam Ramrao Ingole has polled 11,348 votes in this bypoll which was held on October 30.
The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Jitesh's father and sitting Congress MLA Raosaheb Antapurkar.
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
The BJP friend-turned-foe Shiv Sena won the Dadra & Nagar Haveli And Daman & Diu while the Congress retained Deglur Assembly seat in Maharashtra.
Mizoram
The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) on Tuesday won the by-election to the Tuirial Assembly seat in Mizoram by securing 39.96 percent of the total 14,593 votes polled, as per the Election Commission.
MNF candidate K Laldawngliana defeated his nearest opponent Laltlanmawia of the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) by a margin of 1,284 votes, the EC said.
Laldawngliana secured 5,820 votes, while Laltlanmawia got 4,536 votes (31.15 percent), it said.
Congress candidate Chalrosanga Ralte finished at the third spot by securing 3,927 votes (26.96 percent) and BJP nominee K Laldinthara managed just 246 votes, which is 1.68 percent of the total votes polled, it added.
Mizoram Chief Minister and MNF president Zoramthanga congratulated Laldawnglian on winning the by-poll.
"May you always be a pillar of strength for the people,” Zoramthanga said in his official Twitter handle.
The MNF said it had garnered 4,183 votes in the Tuirial seat in the last Assembly election while it had secured 1,637 more votes this time.
Congratulating the MNF for its win, ZPM president Lalliansawta said his party is "young" and it now has two years to train itself before facing the next Assembly election in 2023.
In these two years, the party which was formed in 2017 "can take proper effort to establish a new political system and people's government in the state,” Lalliansawta said.
There are 17,911 voters in the Tuirial constituency in Kolasib district and 81.29 percent of them cast their votes in the by-poll held on October 30, election officials said.
None of the 663 Bru community voters, who are living in Tripura transit camps, cast their votes, they said.
Thousands of the Bru tribal people have been living in six relief camps in Tripura since 1997. They had fled their homeland Mizoram to reach the neighbouring state because of ethnic clashes. By now, their number has risen to over 30,000.
The community leaders had said it would be difficult for them to go to Mizoram and vote unless special arrangements are made for them.
The bypoll to Tuirial seat was necessitated due to the death of incumbent MLA Andrew H Thangliana, who was allied with the ZPM, in August.
In the 40-member Assembly, the ruling MNF now has 28 MLAs, Congress has five, ZPM and BJP have one MLA each. There are five Independent MLAs, who are allied with the ZPM.
The five MLAs had contested and won the last Assembly elections as Independents as the ZPM had not obtained registration at that time.
Meghalaya
The National People's Democratic Party and the United Democratic Party won two (Mawryngkeng and and Rajabala) and one (Mawphlang) seat each.
With inputs from PTI
November 02, 2021 at 10:36PM
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