INDIA Bloc wins Big in Assembly Bypolls

In a significant boost for the Opposition, the Congress-led INDIA bloc secured victories in 10 assembly seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won two seats in the Assembly by-polls held in seven states on July 10, as per the Election Commission’s website on Saturday. Additionally, Independent candidate Shankar Singh won the Rupauli seat in Bihar by a margin of 8,200 votes.

State-wise Assembly By-polls Results:

1. Madhya Pradesh:
   • Amarwara: The BJP’s Kamslesh Pratap Shah retained his seat, defeating Congress rival Dheeran Shah Invati by 3,207 votes. Shah, a three-time former Congress MLA, had switched to the BJP in March, prompting the by-polls.
2. Punjab:
   • Jalandhar West: The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) celebrated as Mohinder Bhagat defeated BJP’s Sheetal Angural by 37,325 votes. The by-poll was necessitated by Angural’s resignation from AAP to join the BJP in March. AAP now holds 91 seats in the 117-member Punjab assembly.
3. Himachal Pradesh:
   • Hamirpur: BJP’s Ashish Sharma won, defeating Congress candidate Pushpender Verma by 1,571 votes.
   • Dehra: CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife, Kamlesh Thakur, won by a margin of almost 9,400 votes.
   • Nalagarh: Hardeep Singh Bawa  of Congress won from Nalagarh seat  defeating KL Thakur of the BJP by about 8,900 votes.
4. West Bengal:
   • Raiganj: TMC’s Krishna Kalyani defeated BJP’s Manas Kumar Ghosh by 50,077 votes.
   • Ranaghat Dakshin: TMC’s Mukut Nami Adhikari won over BJP’s Manoj Kumar Biswas by 74,485 votes.
   • Bagda: Madhuparna Thakur of TMC defeated BJP’s Binay Kumar Biswas by 74,251 votes, securing the seat for TMC after eight years.
   • Maniktala: TMC’s Supti Pandey emerged victorious. The by-polls for these seats were held on July 10.
5. Uttarakhand:
   • Badrinath: Congress’s Lakhpat Singh Butola retained the seat by defeating BJP’s Rajendra Singh Bhandari by 5,224 votes.
   • Manglaur: The party secured the seat by a narrow margin of 422 votes.
6. Tamil Nadu:
   • Vikravandi: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, an INDIA bloc partner, won the seat by over 67,000 votes.
7. Bihar:
   • Rupauli: Independent candidate Shankar Singh defeated JD(U)’s Kaladhar Prasad Mandal.