It is a vote against demonetisation. Says Mamta Banerjee
NEW DELHI : The BJP and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress won crucial by-elections today – and both parties said the results prove that the people support their stand on the ban of old notes.
By-elections were held for four parliament and 10 assembly seats in six states – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu – and one union territory, Puducherry. Ruling parties have done well in each state without exception.
The BJP scored impressively in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, which brings the party major relief amid concern about how the ban on 500 and 1,000-rupee notes is being judged.
Counting of votes took place on Tuesday for 4 Lok Sabha and 8 Assembly Constituencies, spread across six States and one Union Territory where bypolls were held on Saturday.The 4 Lok Sabha seats are Lakhimpur in Assam, Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh and Coochbehar and Tamluk Parliamentary seats in West Bengal.
The 8 Assembly seats are in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
4 Lok Sabha seats
Lakhimpur in Assam – BJP candidate Pradan Barua won the Lakhaimpur LS seat by a margin of 1,90,219 votes defeating his nearest rival Congress’s Hema Prasanga Pegu by a convincing 1,90,219 votes, the returning officer said.
Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh – BJP’s Gyan Singh won Lok Sabha seat from Shahdol (Madhya Pradesh) by a margin of 60383 votes Coochbehar West Bengal – TMC candidate Partha Pratim Roy wins Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat by 4,13,231 votes
Tamluk in West Bengal – TMC’s Dibyendu Adhikari wins Tamluk Lok Sabha seat by 4,97,528 votes
8 Assembly seats
Assembly seat in Assam – Mansing Rongpi won the Baithalangso Assembly seat. Rongpi defeated his nearest Congress rival Ruponsing Ronghang by 16,600 votes. Rongpi garnered 72,160 votes, while Ronghang polled 55,560 votes, said the returning officer.
Assembly seat in Arunachal Pradesh – BJP’s Dasanglu Pul wins Anjaw assembly seat in Arunachal Pradesh by 944 votes Assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh – BJP’s Manju Dadu wins on Nepanagar assembly seat by 40600 votes,
Assembly seat in West Bengal – TMC candidate Saikat Panja wins Monteswar Assembly bypoll defeating his nearest CPI-M rival Md Osman Gani Sarkar by 1,27,127 votes.
Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu – AIADMK wins by 26,483 votes on Thanjavur assembly seat . Assembly seats in Tripura – CPIM wins both Barjala and Khowai assembly seats in Tripura Assembly seat in Union Territory of Puducherry – Congress candidate Narayanasamy wins Nellithope bypoll
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP retained the Lok Sabha and assembly seats that were decided today. However, the BJP’s winning margin for the Lok Sabha seat through was down from nearly 2.5 lakhs to 60,000 despite a 5 per cent increase in voter turnout.
In Assam, which is also governed by the BJP, the party retained the parliament seat vacated by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and gained an assembly seat.
Union Minister Ananth Kumar said the victory proves that “the people of India are with Narendra Modi” as the opposition has united in parliament to suggest the opposite, claiming that there is public outrage over the cash crunch caused by the sudden withdrawal of 86 per cent of the notes in circulation.
After the results were declared, PM Modi tweeted, “I thank people for the continued faith in BJP and in the BJP’s unwavering focus on development and good governance.”
In Arunachal Pradesh, Desingu Pul, the wife of former chief minister Kalikho Pul, who committed suicide in August, won his assembly seat as a BJP candidate. The BJP backs the state government after Chief Minister Pema Khandu broke away from the Congress.
In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee “People have revolted. This is symbolic, It is a vote against demonetisation. In a democracy, people vent their anger through votes,” Ms Banerjee said.
In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK retained all three seats that were decided today. Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy of the Congress has won the Nellithope Assembly seat. Mr Narayanasamy is a Lok Sabha lawmaker and needed to become a member of the state assembly within six months of being sworn in as Chief Minister in May.
Tripura’s ruling CPM has won both assembly seats for which by-elections were held, retaining one and wresting the other from the Congress, which fared very poorly in both.
