Bypoll 2021 Results: TMC sweeps Bengal, cheer for Cong in Himachal, Rajasthan, BJP holds MP

New Delhi: The results of all the bypolls held in 29 assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats are in. The Trinamool Congress swept all four assembly seats in West Bengal with Udayan Guha winning the Dinhata seat, previously held by the BJP, by a margin of 1,63,005 votes.

Meanwhile, the Congress party swept the Himachal and Rajasthan bypolls. The party wrested the Mandi Lok Sabha seat from the BJP and won all three assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh. In Rajasthan, the party won both the Dhariawad and Vallabhnagar assembly constituencies with margins of 18,725 and 20,606 votes, respectively. It also reclaimed Madhya Pradesh’s Raigaon, a traditional BJP seat, after 31 years, besides bagging one seat each in Karnataka and Maharashtra. However, it lost Jobat, a reserved ST seat, and the Prithvipur assembly seat in MP to the BJP, which also retained its Khandwa Lok Sabha seat. The BJP-led alliance claimed victory in all five assembly seats in Assam. The saffron party also wrested Telangana’s Huzurabad from the ruling TRS, while securing a win in Karnataka’s Sindagi. In Haryana’s Ellenabad, INLD’s Abhay Chautala bagged a win over BJP-JJP candidate in the backdrop of the ongoing farmers’ agitation. In Bihar, the ruling JD(U) retained both the Kusheshwar Asthan and Tarapur assembly seats. The Shiv Sena party secured the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat, with MP Sanjay Raut calling it a “giant leap towards Delhi.” Meanwhile, the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance clinched all three assembly seats, wresting Rajabala and Mawryngkneng seats from the Congress. The Bharatiya Janata Party has retained its Lok Sabha seat in Khandwa,. With this, the BJP has won in three of the four seats in Madhya Pradesh. It won Prithvipur with a margin of 15,678 votes and Jobat with 6,104. Meanwhile, Congress won in Raigaon, a traditional BJP seat, after 31 years. Taking to Twitter, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala stated that BJP has lost at most places in direct contest with the Congress, including Rajasthan, Himachal, Karnataka and Maharashtra. He added that BJP has lost two of the three Lok Sabha seats in the fray — Himachal’s Mandi and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.”Modi ji, Shed arrogance! Repeal 3 Black Laws! Stop Petrol-Diesel-Gas Loot!” he tweeted, adding, “disdain for people’s pain is harmful.” While the Ellenabad bypoll saw INLD’s Abhay Chautala return as MLA, the results, coming amid the farmers’ agitation, have thrown up some surprises, with the BJP-JJP alliance faring better than what many had predicted and the Congress dipping to a distant third.We explain the reasons why INLD’s Chautala defeated them both. It was on January 27 this year that INLD’s lone MLA in Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Abhay Chautala, resigned, “listening to the appeal made by the farmers”, who had asked all MLAs of Haryana to resign if they were their “genuine well-wishers”. This move made a significant impact in the largely rural constituency, which is already considered a stronghold of the Chautala clan. Various SKM leaders campaigned in the constituency, but only asked the farmers to boycott the BJP-JJP nominee, not seeking votes for Abhay directly. The ruling Janata Dal (United) has won both the assembly seats in Bihar. JD(U)’s Aman Bhushan Hajari won Kusheshwar Asthan over RJD’s Ganesh Bharti by a margin of 12,695.In Tarapur, Rajeev Kumar Singh won over RJD’s Arun Kumar by a margin of 3,852 votes. A turnout of 50 per cent to 80 per cent was recorded during voting in three Lok Sabha and 29 Assembly constituencies that went for by-elections. The assembly by-elections were held in five seats in Assam, four in West Bengal, three each in Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, two each in Bihar, Karnataka and Rajasthan and one seat each in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Mizoram and Telangana.

Out of the 29 Assembly seats, the BJP held power in six, the Congress had nine, while the rest were with regional parties. The three Lok Sabha seats –Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh– had to go to bypolls after their sitting members died.The results of the electoral battle, that witnessed close fights between several political heavyweights, will decide the fate of prominent candidates like INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who quit the Haryana assembly in protest against the three new central agri laws, Congress’ Pratibha Singh, wife of late chief minister Virbhadra Singh, former national footballer Eugeneson Lyngdoh and ex-minister from Telangana Eatala Rajender.In Haryana, 80 per cent voting was reported in the bypolls to the Ellenabad Assembly constituency, necessitated by the resignation of INLD leader Abhay Chautala as MLA.Khandwa Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, whose BJP MP Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan had died, saw a turnout of 63.88 per cent, while an around 64.60 per cent voting was recorded in the three Assembly seats.In Assam, 69.60 per cent turnout was recorded in five assembly constituencies, namely Gossaigaon, Bhabanipur, Tamulpur, Mariani and Thowra seats till 5 pm.A higher percentage of votes — nearly 71 per cent — were polled till 5 pm in West Bengal’s four assembly constituencies.