By-Election Result 2024: Opposition INDIA bloc was giving a tough fight to the BJP as the counting of votes was underway for assembly by-elections in 13 seats across seven states on Saturday. By-polls are considered a litmus test for the BJP. It has been reeling from the rude shock of failing to clear the majority mark in last month’s Lok Sabha elections. Voting for key constituencies in West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Bihar began at 8 am.
Opening of Post-Lok Sabha Electoral Battles
These keenly contested by-polls, conducted on July 10, marked a virtual opening of electoral battles post the Lok Sabha election, where practically the ruling BJP faced the opposition INDIA bloc, comprising Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK and the Aam Aadmi Party for the seats. In West Bengal, election for four seats is underway where Trinamool Congress’s Madhupurna Thakur led by a margin of 12,444 votes from Bagda constituency. Candidates of the ruling party also took the lead in Ranaghat, Maniktala, and Raiganj.
The Congress candidate, Qazi Nizamuddin, was leading in Uttarakhand’s Manglaur with 12,540 votes, followed by BSP nominee Ubedur Rehman and BJP’s Gujjar leader Kartar Singh Bhadana a distant third. The had witnessed violence on the day of polling. In Badrinath, Congress newcomer Lakhpat Singh Butola was leading. He is facing off against BJP’s Rajendra Bhandari.
AAP Dominates Jalandhar West By-Poll
In Punjab’s Jalandhar West seat, the ruling AAP was in pole position as its candidate Mohinder Bhagat had taken a commanding lead of 42,007 votes after nearly 10 rounds of counting. Congress nominee Surinder Kaur was at the second spot with 13,727 votes while BJP’s Sheetal Angural came third. Bypolls were announced in the constituency after Angural, the AAP legislator, jumped ship to the BJP. Even in Manglaur assembly constituency, where a poll-related violence left four persons injured, the high polling percentage was 67.28 per cent.
Over 57 per cent of over three lakh voters exercised their franchise in the bypoll to the Rupauli assembly seat in Bihar. The bye-election was caused due to the resignation of sitting MLA Bima Bharti who used to win this seat for JD(U) a number of times in the past but quit the party recently to contest the Lok Sabha elections on an RJD ticket.
High Voter Turnout in Amarwara, Madhya Pradesh
The Amarwara constituency ST Assembly polling was held in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, with a turnout of 78.71 percent. The seat was vacated by three-time Congress MLA Kamlesh Shah, who joined the BJP in March. The result is being keenly awaited by the BJP and the Congress, as Chhindwara had been identified as senior Congress leader Kamal Nath’s fiefdom until very recently.
The voter turnout in the Vikravandi assembly constituency of Tamil Nadu was 82.48 per cent. The bypoll in the constituency was necessitated by the death of DMK legislator N Pughazhendhi. There are 29 candidates in the fray with the ruling DMK fielding Anniyur Siva alias Sivashanmugam A against PMK’s C Anbumani and Naam Tamilar Katchi’s K Abinaya.
Moderate Voter Turnout in Jalandhar West, Punjab
In Punjab, the Jalandhar West assembly bypoll registered 55 per cent voter turnout. It witnessed a multi-cornered contest among the ruling AAP, the BJP and Congress. The seat fell vacant with the AAP legislator Sheetal Angural joining BJP.
By-polls in three assembly constituencies witnessed a voter turnout between 63 per cent and 75 per cent. The seats fell vacant after Independent legislators Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra, Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur, and KL Thakur from Nalagarh resigned from the state assembly and joined the BJP.