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Incumbents win Chhattisgarh, Odisha bypolls; BJP victorious in Bihar
In Bihar’s Kurhani, first-time candidates from the erstwhile alliance of the Janata Dal (United) or JDU and the BJP went up against each other after chief minister Nitish Kumar abandoned his alliance with the BJP, and formed a government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Results for six assembly bypolls across five states as well as one Lok Sabha seat were declared on Thursday, with incumbents winning in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning an important by-election in Bihar, the first since the political re-alignment in the state. In Uttar Pradesh, late Samajwadi Party (SP) president Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav won his parliamentary seat of Mainpuri, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) beat the incumbent BJP in Muzaffarnagar’s Khatauli, and the BJP pulled off an upset by beating the SP in Azam Khan’s bastion of Rampur.
In Bihar’s Kurhani, first-time candidates from the erstwhile alliance of the Janata Dal (United) or JDU and the BJP went up against each other after chief minister Nitish Kumar abandoned his alliance with the BJP, and formed a government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The bypoll was necessitated by the disqualification of Anil Kumar Sahani from the RJD in October following his conviction in a case of forgery. Despite the JDU and the RJD joining forces, however, the BJP’s Kedar Prasad Gupta emerged victorious, beating the JDU’s Manoj Kushwaha Singh by a margin of under 5,000 votes.
“The BJP won against an alliance of seven parties which wanted to play spoilsport. It is a victory of the party’s hard work,” said BJP state president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal.
JD(U) parliamentary board president Upendra Kushwaha tweeted, “We need to learn a lot from the loss in Kurhani. The first lesson is, we must follow the people and their will and not expect the other way round.”
In Chhattisgarh, the Congress retained the Bhanupratappur set in the assembly bypoll, with Savitri Mandavi, the wife of late MLA Manoj Mandavi whose death necessitated the election, beating her nearest rival Brahamanand Netam of the BJP by a margin on 21,171 votes. The elections were marred by allegations of rape against Netam in Jharkhand, which then became a central issue in the elections. Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel congratulated Mandavi for her victory and said Manoj Mandavi’s lasting relationship with the people of his constituency as well as the development of the area were factors behind the Congress win.
In Odisha, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Barsha Singh Bariha beat the BJP’s Pratap Purohit by a massive margin of 42,769 votes. The elections were significant because they were held after the ruling party faced a setback in the Dhamnagar bypoll last month where it was beaten by the BJP—its first bypoll loss since 2008. That prompted even chief minister Naveen Patnaik to campaign for the BJD, a first in three years. Purohit admitted, “Her lead is unexpected. A large chunk of Congress votes has shifted to the BJD. I accept the verdict of people with humility.”
Meanwhile, 29-year-old Bariha said, “Thanks to our CM and the people of Padampur. My late father’s goodwill also earned blessings from the people.”
In Rajasthan, the Congress’ Anil Sharma won the Sardarshahar bypoll, beating the BJP’s Ashok Kumar by a 26,852 vote margin. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said that the win was a message from the people that the Congress would retain the state in 2023, and was “a seal of approval for the state government’s transparent and accountable governance.”
