The recent by-polls for 13 legislative assembly seats across seven states marked a significant victory for the INDIA Alliance, with the youth leader of Uttar Pradesh Congress, Nitant Singh Nitin, highlighting this success.
In a celebratory move, Singh put up a poster at the UP Congress state headquarters, emphasising the victory of Congress candidate Lakhpat Singh Butola, who won the Badrinath assembly seat in Uttarakhand.
The poster bore a message reflecting on the constitutional win, comparing it to the blessings received from Lord Vishnu in Badrinath, akin to the blessings from Ram Ji’s Ayodhya.
The by-poll results were a setback for the BJP, which only managed to secure two out of the 13 seats. The INDIA bloc, on the other hand, emerged victorious in 10 seats, with an independent candidate clinching a seat in Bihar. The elections, held on July 10, covered assembly seats in Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh.
In Uttarakhand, the BJP lost both contested seats, marking a significant win for Congress. In Badrinath, Lakhapat Singh Butola defeated Rajendra Singh Bhandari by a margin of 5,224 votes.
Similarly, in Manglaur, Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin secured a victory against BJP’s Kartar Singh Bhadana by a margin of 422 votes. The results in Himachal Pradesh were also favourable for Congress, which won two out of three seats. Kamlesh Thakur from Dehra and Hardeep Singh Bawa from Nalagarh emerged victorious, while Ashish Sharma from the BJP won in Hamirpur.
In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a partner in the INDIA alliance, secured victory in Jalandhar West. Tamil Nadu saw the DMK, another INDIA alliance partner, win in Vikravandi.
West Bengal was a stronghold for the All India Trinamool Congress, part of the INDIA alliance, which won all four seats, defeating the BJP. In Bihar, however, neither the JDU of the BJP-led NDA nor the RJD of the INDIA alliance managed to secure a victory.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar expressed gratitude towards the MLAs who supported the Mahayuti alliance and emphasised the need for a similar performance in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections. He highlighted the strategic execution by leaders of the Mahayuti alliance, including Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, which led to their success.
The by-elections were seen as a semi-final ahead of the state assembly elections, with the BJP fielding five candidates, and the NCP and Shiv Sena fielding two each, all of whom won. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of the Shiv Sena, and Sharad Pawar’s faction of the NCP, fielded three candidates but did not achieve similar success.
The by-poll results underscored the shifting political landscape, with the INDIA Alliance making significant inroads and the BJP facing notable defeats in key regions. This outcome sets the stage for the forthcoming state assembly elections, where the alliances and their strategies will be put to the test once again.
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