Rajasthan bypoll results highlights: Blow for BJP as Congress wins Ajmer, Alwar and Mandalgarh bypolls

The Congress won bypolls in the Lok Sabha seats of Ajmer and Alwar and in the state assembly seat of Mandalgarh in Rajasthan. The Trinamool won both Noapara assembly and Uluberia Lok Sabha seats in Bengal. Here are the highlights:

The counting of votes for the Rajasthan bypolls in two Lok Sabha and one assembly constituency — a crucial contest ahead of the state elections due later this year — took place on Thursday.

State Congress president Sachin Pilot and party leader Raj Babbar during a road show in Ajmer.(Deepak Sharma/HT File Photo)

The Congress won the Lok Sabha seat in Alwar by over 1.96 lakh votes and the seat in Ajmer by over 84,000 votes. The party won the Mandalgarh assembly seat by nearly 13,000 votes. All three seats were previously held by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

A total of 42 candidates were in the fray for the bypolls to the three seats, the election to which was held on Monday.

In West Bengal, ruling Trinamool Congress trounced its opponents to wrest the Noapara assembly seat from the Congress and retained the Uluberia Lok Sabha seat on Thursday with a mammoth margin even as the BJP emerged its main challenger.

Here are the highlights of the by-election results:

7.45pm: Congress state president Sachin Pilot says, “It’s emphatic victory that people have registered for Congress.Thankful to people of Rajasthan. Beyond Rajasthan also, these election results will have an impact as jumlebaazi, politics of division and venom isn’t acceptable.”

7.30pm: Congress candidate Raghu Sharma wins Ajmer bypoll by 84,414 votes. Sharma got 6,11,514 votes while BJP’s Ramswaroop Lamba received 5,27,100.

6.13pm: Karan Singh Yadav of Congress has won the bypoll in Alwar by 1,96,496 votes.

5.25pm: Sajda Ahmed of Trinamool Congress wins Uluberia Lok Sabha bypoll, beating her nearest rival Anupam Mallick (BJP) by over 4.74 lakh votes, reports PTI quoting EC sources.

5.04pm:

5.01pm: Congress’ Raghu Sharma leaders by 80,455 votes in Ajmer while the party’s candidate in Alwar, Dr.Karan Singh Yadav, leads by 1,94,285 votes.

5.00pm:

4.52pm: Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot says CM Vasundhara Raje should step down on moral grounds.

3.35pm: Trinamool wins Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency by 4.74 lakh votes. BJP is in the second position and CPI(M) and Congress stand third and fourth.

3.22pm: Trinamool candidate Sajda Ahmed bagged 5,88,211 votes in Uluberia Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal. Her nearest rival, Anupam Mallik of the BJP, secured 2,18,807 votes. Sajda is the wife of Sultan Ahmed.

3.15pm: Trinamool Congress ahead of BJP in Uluberia bypolls by 3.6 lakh votes.

2pm: A festive mood at Congress office in Jaipur.

1.15pm: Congress’ Vivek Dhakad wins Mandalgarh assembly seat by 12,976 votes: Report.

1pm: A deserted BJP office in Jaipur.

12.55pm: Congress leads in Ajmer and Alwar by 45,000 and 72,000 votes. It leads in Mandalgarh by over 11,000 votes.

12.30pm: Trinamool leading in Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency by about 2 lakh votes. BJP and CPI(M) are in second and third positions.

12.25pm: In Mandalgarh, Congress’ Vivek Dhakad moves ahead of BJP by 1,146 votes.

12.21pm: In Ajmer, Congress’ Raghu Sharma maintains a lead of 23,882 votes over BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Lamba.

12.15pm: In Alwar, Congress candidate Karan Singh Yadav leads by 39,826 votes over his nearest rival, Jaswant Yadav from the BJP, after 15 rounds of counting. Yadav has garnered 1,63,489 votes.

11.34am: Trinamool leading in Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency by 95,229 votes. BJP in second, CPI(M) in third and Congress in fourth positions.

11.13am: Congress makes a dramatic comeback in Mandalgarh in the eleventh round, surges ahead of BJP. Congress now leading in all three by-elections seats.

11.05am: With leads in Ajmer and Alwar, Congress leaders say EVMs in Rajasthan not tampered.

11am: “I expected to win by a bigger margin,” said Sunil Singh, the TMC candidate in Noapara constituency.

10.40am: In Noapara Assembly constituency, Trinamool won 111,729 votes, BJP received 38,711, CPI(M) secured 35,497 and Congress got 10,527 votes. Winning margin of TMC candidate Sunil Singh is 63,018.

10.36am: Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president, says initial trends are a mandate against the Vasundhara Raje government. People have rejected her government.

10.33am: Trinamool wins Noapara Assembly polls by 63,000 votes. BJP is in second, CPI(M) is in third and Congress in fourth positions.

10.27am: Congress consolidates lead in Ajmer and Alwar after third round of counting.

10.25am: After 13 rounds of counting, Trinamool leading by 63,000 votes in Noapara Assembly constituency. BJP is second, CPI(M) is third and Congress is fourth. TMC also leading in Uluberia LS seat.

10.20am: Congress candidate Raghu Sharma leading by 13,500 votes at the end of fourth round of counting in Ajmer.

10.15am: Third round of counting in Rajasthan bypolls: Congress leading by 13,000 votes in Alwar.

10am: Trinamool leads in Ulberia Lok Sabha by-election with 40,829 votes, BJP at 17,625 and CPI(M) at 8,576 votes.

9.45am: After nine rounds of counting, Trinamool leading by more than 41,000 votes in Noapara assembly constituency.

9.37am: BJP’s Shakti Singh Hada leading in Mandalgarh assembly seat with 3,072 votes.

9.35am: Noapara assembly seat by-poll trends: TMC’s Sunil Singh receives 51,694 votes, CPI(M)’s Gargi Chaterjee secures 19,067 votes while BJP’s Sandip Banerjee and Congress’ Goutam Bose get 17,688 and 6138 votes. NOTA gets 1,866.

9.34am: After seven rounds of counting, TMC leading by 32,000-plus votes in Noapara; CPI(M), BJP and Congress in second, third and fourth positions. TMC also leading in Uluberia LS constituency.

9.26am: Congress leading in Alwar with 30,595 votes and in Ajmer with 7,585 votes.

9.22am: Counting begins in Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal.

9.20am: After the fifth round of counting, TMC leads in Noapara assembly constituency by more than 26,000 votes. CPI(M) , BJP and Congress hold second, third and fourth positions.

9.10am: Trends show TMC leading in Naopara assembly seat with more than 19,000 votes.

9.08am: Bharatiya Janata Party leading in Mandalgarh with 699 votes; Congress in Ajmer with 9,225 votes and Alwar.

9am: Trinamool Congress leading in Noapara Assembly constituency. BJP is in second, CPI(M) third and Congress in fourth position

8.45am: Early trends show Congress leading in all three seats.

8.20am: Security personnel deployed outside the counting centre in Ajmer.

8am: Counting of votes is also underway in Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal.

7.16am: The bypolls on all the three seats were necessitated after the death of BJP MPs Sanwarlal Jat from Ajmer, Mahant Chand Nath Yogi from Alwar, and MLA Kirti Kumari from Mandalgarh.

* Alwar Lok Sabha recorded 62.08%, Ajmer had 65.35% polling, whereas Mandalgarh clocked 78.81% voting.

*In Alwar, Jaswant Singh Yadav of BJP and Karan Singh Yadav of the Congress have contested the election, while Raghu Sharma of the Congress and BJP’s Ram Swaroop Lamba locked horns in Ajmer.

*In Mandalgarh, BJP’s Shakti Singh Hada and Congress’s Vivek Dhakad are poised for a tough fight.