BackBypolls | BJP wins four seats in Gujarat, setback for Congress
Bypolls | BJP wins four seats in Gujarat, setback for Congress
PremiumAhmedabad: Ruling BJP in Gujarat on Monday bagged four of the seven Assembly seats where by-polls were held on 10 September and was leading at one, while Congress won Dhoraji and Kodinar.
Counting for Danta Assembly segment in Banaskantha district is still underway where after 14 rounds, BJP candidate Vasant Bhatol is ahead with 3000 votes.
BJP, which had run a low-key campaigning in the by-polls following the party’s poor results in the Lok Sabha polls and subsequent defeat in the Junagadh civic body polls, has wrested Dehgam, Jasdan and Chotila from Congress.
In Sami, BJP candidate Bhavsing Rathod, who had won the last assembly polls from the same seat on Congress ticket, has retained his seat contesting on BJP ticket in the by-poll.
Congress has wrested BJP’s bastion Kodinar in Saurashtra while retaining Dhoraji, a party stronghold.
“The results of the by elections show that BJP still remains a preferred choice of the people of Gujarat," said BJP general secretary Jayantibhai Barot.
The seven seats where by-polls were held are Dehgam, Danta and Sami in North Gujarat and Chotila, Jasdan, Dhoraji and Kodinar in Saurashtra.
Of the seven seats where by-polls were held, Congress held six seats while Kodinar was held by BJP.
In Dehgam, Kodinar, Danta, Jasdan and Dhoraji, by-polls were necessitated as MLAs from the respective seats got elected to the Lok Sabha.
In Chotila, by-poll was necessitated following the death of sitting Congress MLA Popat Jinjaria while Sami seat had fallen vacant after sitting MLA Bhavsin Rathod joined BJP to contest Lok Sabha polls but lost.
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had not campaigned for the party in the by-polls.
Uttarakhand bypolls | BJP secures majority in Uttarakhand assembly
Dehra Dun: The ruling BJP on Monday got a majority in the Uttarakhand Assembly when it won the Vikasnagar seat in a by-election, taking its tally to 36 in the 70-member House.
Kuldip Kumar defeated his nearest Congress rival Nav Prabhat by 596 votes in the bypoll. While, Kumar got 24,934 votes, Prabhat polled 24,338 votes.
BJP’s victory assumes significance especially after it lost all the five seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections that forced B.C. Khanduri to quit the post of chief minister.
At the same time, the victory in the bypoll has added a feather in the cap of chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, for whom the by-election was considered an acid test after he took over the reins of the state.
BJP also enjoys the support of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal MLAs.
Hailing BJP’s victory, Nishank said “Now our biggest priority will be to win the 2012 assembly elections in the state which we will do comfortably."
MP bypolls | BJP wrests Tendukheda, Cong retains Gohad
Bhopal: The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh on Monday wrested the Tendukheda Assembly seat from the Congress with its nominee Bhaiyya Ram Patel winning from there with a margin of over 13,000 votes.
The opposition Congress retained the Gohad assembly seat with its nominee Ranveer Jatav winning by a margin of 22,571 votes.
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