The BJP and its allies held nearly 30 of the assembly seats, the Congress had 12. (Representational)
The by-elections to 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies across 17 states and the Union Territory of Puducherry has thrown up a few surprises, especially in BJP-ruled Bihar and Gujarat. The BJP and its allies, which held nearly 30 of the assembly seats, ended up with 26. The Congress won 12, keeping an even tally. Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM opened its account in Bihar. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who rules Bihar in alliance with the BJP, suffered a setback, managing to win only one of the four seats his Janata Dal United contested. In Gujarat, the Congress and the BJP won three seats each.
Bypolls were held on 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Gujarat, Kerala and Bihar (5 seats each), Assam and Punjab (4 seats each), Sikkim (3 seats), Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (2 seats each) and one seat each in Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Meghalaya and Telangana.
Of the 11 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) won eight seats, one less than it held. The Samajwadi Party turned out to be the big gainer, wresting a seat each from the ruling BJP and the BSP. Of the 11 seats, eight were held by the BJP while the Pratapgarh seat was held by its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal).
There was controversy over western UP's Gangoh seat, where the Congress was leading all day. When it was overtaken by the BJP in the afternoon, senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged fraud. She claimed the party's candidate has been asked to leave the counting centre and the results are being manipulated.
Of the six Assembly seats in Gujarat where bypolls were held, the Congress won three seats and the BJP three. Earlier, the BJP held four of these seats and the Congress, two. OBC leader Alpesh Thakor, who switched sides from the Congress to the BJP, lost from Radhanpur by a margin of 3,807 votes to Congress's Raghubhai Desai.
In Bihar, where by-polls were held on five seats, the BJP-Nitish Kumar alliance lost in three seats. Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Jan Shakti Party retained the only Lok Sabha seat - Samastipur -- where elections were held. In Kishanganj, Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM opened its account.
In Kerala, the ruling LDF has won in 3 of the four seats where assembly polls were held. The opposition UDF has won one seat.
In Punjab, the ruling Congress won three seats -- even wresting the Akali bastion Jalalabad -- and the Shiromani Akali Dal won one.With the victories, the Congress consolidated its position in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, where it would now have a two-thirds majority with 80 seats.
In Assam, the ruling BJP is leading in three of the four Assembly seats where by-polls were held on Monday.
The BJP also retained both Dharamshala and Pachhad seats in Himachal Pradesh, a state it rules. The Congress candidate in Dharamshala lost his security deposit.
In Rajasthan, the ruling Congress is leading in both assembly constituencies of Mandawa's Khinwsar seat and Nagaur's Khinwsar constituency. The Congress tally in the 200-member state legislature is now 107, including the six BSP leaders who joined the party last month. In Congress-ruled Madhya Pradesh, party candidate Kantilal Bhuria is leading in the Jhabua assembly seat.
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