Bypolls bring cheer for BJP, Congress; BJD wins big in Padampur
The Hindu
BJP clinches significant wins in Rampur constituency in Uttar Pradesh and Kurhani in Bihar, while SP wins the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat; Congress retains the Assembly seats of Sardarshahar in Rajasthan and Bhanupratapur in Chhattisgarh
Byelections to one Lok Sabha and six Assembly constituencies threw up politically significant results on Thursday as BJP managed to breach Azam Khan’s fortress of Rampur in Uttar Pradesh and embarrassed former ally, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, by defeating his party candidate in the Kurhani Assembly seat of Bihar.
The BJP, however, lost Khatauli Assembly constituency in Uttar Pradesh to the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
In the lone Lok Sabha byelection in Mainpuri, which was necessitated by the death of Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh, his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav retained the family stronghold. Ms. Yadav won by a margin of 2,88,136 votes over her nearest rival from BJP Raghuraj Singh Shakya.
Congress retained the Assembly seats of Sardarshahar in Rajasthan and Bhanupratapur in Chattisgarh, while in Odisha, BJD scored a convincing victory in Padampur.
In Uttar Pradesh, byelection was necessitated for the Rampur Sadar Assembly seat after SP leader Azam Khan was sentenced to three years in jail in a hate speech case and disqualified as an MLA. Mr. Khan can’t contest elections for six years due to his conviction. BJP’s Akash Saxena defeated SP’s Asim Raja, Mr. Khan’s close aide, by a margin of 33,702 votes.
The BJP win in Rampur comes amid allegations that many voters were not allowed to reach polling booths by the police. The Assembly seat recorded an average voter turnout of 33.97% across 454 booths.
Similarly, in Khatauli, byelection was held after BJP MLA Vikram Singh Saini was disqualified from the State Assembly following his conviction in a case related to 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. Here RLD’s Madan Bhaiya defeated BJP candidate Rajkumari Saini by a margin of over 22,000 votes. Ms. Saini is the wife of the former BJP MLA.
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