New Delhi Voting took place in many parts of the country for the by-elections, the counting of which took place today. By-elections were held for the Asansol Lok Sabha seat in Bengal and the assembly seats of Ballygunge in Bengal, Khairagarh in Chhattisgarh, Bochahan in Bihar and Kolhapur North in Maharashtra.
The Election Commission had announced by-polls to these seats on March 12 this year.
While turncoat led for Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, it was RJD vs NDA in Bihar.
The by-election to Khairagarh assembly seat was held due to the death of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) MLA Devvrat Singh. On the other hand, election to the Kolhapur North assembly seat had become necessary after Congress MLA Chandrakant Jadhav died of Covid-19 in December last year.
Latest trends and developments in by-elections
West Bengal by-election
The Trinamool Congress is on a clean sweep in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat where film actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha is leading by an unassailable margin of nearly 2.3 lakh votes.
Actor-turned-politician, Shatrughan Sinha’s lead over BJP’s Agnimitra Paul overtook Babul Supriyo’s (then BJP leader) margin in 2019. In 2019, Babylon won the seat by a margin of 1,97,637 votes. The verdict is completely in favor of TMC.
TMC’s Babul Supriyo has won from Ballygunge assembly seat. Babul Supriyo defeated his nearest rival Saira Shah Haleem by a margin of 19,904 votes. From Ballygunge, Babul Supriyo got 50,996 votes, while his rival Saira Shah Haleem (CPM) got 30,940 votes, Kamaruzzaman Choudhary (Congress) got 5205 votes and Kiya Ghosh (BJP) got only 13,174 votes.
Bihar by-election
In Bihar, the opposition RJD wrested the Bochahan assembly seat from the ruling NDA, in which its candidate defeated the BJP candidate by a huge margin of over 35,000 votes.
RJD candidate Amar Paswan, whose bypoll was necessitated due to the death of his father Musafir Paswan, got 82,116 votes, while his nearest BJP rival Baby Kumari got only 45,353 votes.
Expelled state minister Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), on whose ticket Musafir Paswan had won the seat in 2020, came third with 29,671 votes.
Till about a month back, VIP was a constituent of NDA.
Chhattisgarh by-election
The by-election to Khairagarh assembly seat was held due to the death of Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) MLA Devvrat Singh. The voter turnout in this case was 78 percent. Counting of postal ballots will be done first, followed by counting of EVMs.
Counting of votes will continue till 21 rounds at 14 tables. Ten candidates were in the fray for the Khairagarh assembly seat, but the contest was expected to be between Yashoda Verma of the Congress and Komal Jangle of the BJP.
Maharashtra by-election
In a boost to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra, the Congress retained the seat by defeating the BJP by a margin of over 18,000 votes in the Kolhapur North assembly constituency on Saturday. Congress-MVA candidate Jayshree Jadhav got 96,176 votes, while BJP’s Satyajit Kadam got 77,426 votes.
There was 60 per cent voting on Tuesday. 15 candidates were in the fray for this seat, but the contest was expected to be between the Congress and the BJP. In Maharashtra, the Congress is a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.