In a first key face off between the INDIA alliance and NDA after the Lok Sabha polls, the Opposition parties on Saturday won 10 out of the 13 seats in the assembly bypolls which were held across seven states earlier this week.

Advertisement

TMC, Congress, AAP and DMK which are the constituents of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level dominated in the assembly bypolls by collectively winning 10 seats while the BJP bagged two seats while an Independent won the remaining seat.

The counting of votes for the 13 legislative assembly seats spread across seven states was held on Saturday.

Bypolls were held in 13 Assembly constituencies across seven states on July 10 in the first electoral contest since the Lok Sabha polls.

The bypolls were held in West Bengal (4 seats), Himachal Pradesh (3 seats), Uttarakhand (2 seats), Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and Punjab (1 seat each).

The assembly constituencies included Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, and Maniktala in West Bengal; Dehra, Hamirpur, and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh; Badrinath and Manglaur in Uttarakhand; Jalandhar West in Punjab; Rupauli in Bihar; Vikravandi in Tamil Nadu; and Amarwara in Madhya Pradesh.

The TMC made a clean sweep on all four assembly constituencies in West Bengal, while the Congress won two out of three seats in Himachal Pradesh and two seats in Uttarakhand. The AAP won the seat in Punjab while DMK registered victory in Tamil Nadu.

The BJP won a total of two seats, one in Himachal Pradesh and another in Madhya Pradesh. An Independent candidate won a seat in Bihar defeating JD(U) candidate which is the key constituent of the NDA.

Reacting to the Trinamool Congress’ victory in the bypolls to all the four Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “The bypoll result is a reply to the conspiracies framed against us by BJP through the use of central agencies. The common people have given a befitting reply to all such conspiracies. But the victory comes with additional responsibilities for us. We will have to stand by people as always.”

Meanwhile, following the victory of Congress candidates in two out of three assembly constituencies in the by-elections in the state, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said it was a victory of the people over money power.

Congress candidate and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife, Kamlesh Thakur, has won the assembly by-election from the Dehra constituency by defeating Hoshyar Singh of the BJP.

Independent candidate Shankar Singh has won the Rupauli assembly bypoll in Purnea district in Bihar with a margin of 8204 votes over JD(U) candidate Kaladhar Mandal.