In a major boost for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, the Congress-led opposition alliance won 10 of 13 seats in the bypolls held across seven states on July 10. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinched just two seats and an Independent one as votes were counted on Saturday.
The bypolls were held on Wednesday in four seats in West Bengal, three in Himachal Pradesh, two in Uttarakhand, and one each in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.
The Congress won both the assembly bypolls in Uttarakhand - Manglaur and Badrinath. In Himachal Pradesh, the grand old party secured two out of the three seats where bypolls were held.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife and Congress candidate Kamlesh Thakur defeated BJP's Hoshiyar Singh by a margin of 9,399 votes to win the Dehra assembly seat. In Nalagarh, Congress' Hardeep Singh Bawa won against BJP's KL Thakur by 25,618 votes.
In Uttarakhand, Lakhapat Singh Butola won the Badrinath seat by defeating former minister and MLA BJP's Rajendra Singh Bhandari by 5,224 votes. Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin defeated BJP's Kartar Singh Bhadana in Manglaur by a slender margin of 422 votes.
The Congress, TMC, AAP and DMK are among the INDIA bloc parties that fielded candidates in the bypolls.
Hailing the bypoll results, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted it has become clear that the web of "fear and illusion" woven by the BJP has been broken.
"The results of the by-elections held in 7 states have made it clear that the web of 'fear and illusion' woven by the BJP has been broken. Every class, including farmers, youth, labourers, businessmen and employees wants to completely destroy the dictatorship and establish the rule of justice," the former Congress president posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too responded to the bypoll gains and said that the people of the country have understood that the politics of misleading people 100 years back and 100 years ahead will not benefit the country.
"The people want positive politics that improves their present and prepares a clear blueprint for a bright future," she said.
In Punjab, Mohinder Bhagat of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the Jalandhar West seat by defeating his nearest rival and BJP nominee Sheetal Angural by a margin of 37,325 votes, the Election Commission (EC) said.
The seat fell vacant after Angural resigned as the AAP legislator and joined the BJP in March.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the victory with a big lead in the seat shows that the people of the state are "very happy" with his government's work.
In Tamil Nadu, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) Anniyur Siva emerged victorious in the Vikravandi Assembly constituency. He defeated his nearest rival -- NDA constituent Pattali Makkal Katchi's Ambumani C -- by a margin of 67,757 votes.
On the four seats in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Krishna Kalyani defeated BJP's Manas Kumar Ghosh by a margin of 50,077 votes in the Raiganj assembly seat, and Mukut Nami Adhikari defeated BJP's Manoj Kumar Biswas by 74,485 votes in Ranaghat Dakshin.
TMC's Madhuparna Thakur defeated BJP's Binay Kumar Biswas by 74,251 votes in Bagda, and Supti Pandey defeated BJP's Kalyan Choubey by 62,312 votes, according to the EC.
The BJP won the Hamirpur seat with its candidate Ashish Sharma polling 27,041 votes against Congress's Pushpinder Verma 25,470 votes, the website showed.
In Madhya Pradesh, BJP's Kamslesh Pratap Shah won the Amarwara assembly seat by a margin of 3,027 votes against Congress' Dheeran Sah Invati, while in Bihar, Independent candidate Shankar Singh won the Rupauli seat, defeating his nearest rival -- JD(U)'s Kaladhar Prasad Mandal -- by a margin of 8,246 votes, the EC website showed.
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