Assembly bypolls: BJP wins 16 seats, Congress 11

NEW DELHI: Five months after its landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP on Thursday won 17 Assembly seats in the bypolls held in 51 Assembly constituencies across 17 states.nnThe Congress, which was decimated in the general elections in May, bagged 11 seats in the by-elections held on October 21.nnIn Uttar Pradesh, where by-elections were held for 11 Assembly seats, the BJP won 7, its ally Apna Dal got 1, and the Samajwadi Party won 3 seats.nnThe ruling BJP won the Gangoh, Iglas, Lucknow Cantt, Govind Nagar, Manikpur, Balha and Ghosi. The candidate of its ally Apna Dal won from Pratapgarh.nnSamajwadi Party”s Tazeen Fatma, a Rajya Sabha member and wife of senior party leader and Lok Sabha member Azam Khan, won from the Rampur seat, defeating BJP”s Bharat Bhushan.nnSamajwadi Party”s Gaurav Kumar secured victory in Zaidpur seat, defeating BJP”s Ambrish, and the party”s Subhash Rai pipped the BSP”s Chhaya Verma to the post in Jalalpur.nnIn Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal won the Simri-Bakhtiarpur and Belhar seats, the AIMIM”s Qamrul Hoda won in Kishanganj and the ruling Janata Dal-United in the Nathnagar constituency. Independent Karnjeet Singh alias Vyas Singh won in Daraundha.nnIn Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, 6 seats were at stake, out of which the BJP bagged Kheralu, Lunawada and Amraiwadi while the Congress won the remaining 3 – Tharad, Bayad and Radhanpur, where its candidate Raghubhai Merajbhai Desai defeated Alpesh Thakor, who left the Congress to join the BJP.nnIn Assam, the BJP won the Ratabari, Rangapara and Sonari seats in Assam while the All India United Demoratic Front won the Jania seat.nnThe BJP won Martamrumtek (BL) and Gangtok (BL) in Sikkim while the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha secured the Poklok Kamrang seat.nnThe BJP secured victory from Himachal Pradesh”s Dharamshala and Pachhad seats where it had fielded Vishal Nehria and Reena Kashyap, respectively, defeating an Independent and Congress candidate.nnIndependent candidate Chakat Aboh won from Khonsa West constituency in Arunachal Pradesh”s defeating Independent candidate Azet Homtok by a margin of 1,887 votes.nnThe Congress secured victory in three of the four seats in Punjab – Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal won in Phagwara defeating the BJP”s Rajesh Bagha, Indu Bala trumped the BJP”s Jangi Lal Mahajan in Mukerian and Ramdinder Singh Awla defeated the Shiromani Akali Dal”s Raj Singh in Jalalabad. However, the party faced defeat in the Dakha seat, where its Sandeep Singh Sandhu lost to Akali Dal”s Manpreet Singh Ayali.nnIn Rajasthan, Congress”s Rita Choudhary defeated BJP”s Sushila Singra from Mandawa seat but the party faced defeat from the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party in Khinwsar seat where Narayan Beniwal defeated its Harendra Midha.nnThe Congress registered victory in Chhattisgarh”s Chitrakot seat where Rajman Venjam defeated the BJP”s Lachhuram Kashyap. It also won Madhya Pradesh”s Jhabua constituency where it fielded Kantilal Bhuria against BJP”s Bhanu Bhuria.nnThe Congress also won two of the five seats in Kerala – Vinod defeating Independent Manu Roy in Ernakulam and Shanimol Osman defeated Manu C. Pulickal of the CPI-M in Aroor – while its ally, the Indian Union Muslim League”s M.C. Kamaruddin won the Manjeshwar seat, defeating the BJP”s Raveesh Thanthri Kuntar.nnThe ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist secured victory in Konni and Vattiyoorkavu seats, where its candidates K.U. Jenish Kumar and V.K.Prasanth defeated the Congress” P. Mohanraj and K. Mohankumar, respectively.nnThe United Democratic Party”s Balajied Kupar Synrem won Meghalaya”s Shella seat, defeating Independent Grace Mary Kharpuri while the Biju Janata Dal retained Odisha”s Bijepur constituency with Rita Sahu defeating the BJP”s Sanat Kumar Gartia.nnCongress”s A. Johnkumar defeated All India N.R. Congress”s Bouvaneswarane with a margin of 7,170 votes in Puducherry”s Kamaraj Nagar.nnAIADMK”s Muthamilselvan R. and Narayanan V. defeated DMK”s Pugazhenthi N. in Vikravandi and Congress”s Manoharan R. in Nanguneri seat, respectively, in Tamil Nadu.nnThe Telangana Rashtra Samithi”s Saidi Reddy Shanampudi defeated Congress”s Nalamada Padmavathi Reddy with a margin of 42,485 votes in Telangana”s Huzurnagar.nnSource: IANS