Adding to the owes of Congress in in Assam and Kerala assembly elections, the party suffered reverses in bypolls in Gujarat and Telangana. (File Photo)
Adding to the owes of Congress in in Assam and Kerala assembly elections, the party suffered reverses in bypolls in Gujarat and Telangana as its candidates failed to retain a seat each in the two states and forfeiting deposits in both the seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Congress lost Tura Lok Sabha by-elections in Meghalaya by the biggest margin in its history in the state and failed to win in 13 of the 14 assembly segments held by partymen.
In Gujarat, BJP wrested the Talala Assembly seat in Gir-Somnath district as its candidate Govind Parmar defeated his Congress rival Bhagwanji Barad by over 2,440 votes. The seat was earlier held by Congress.
The by-election was necessitated after Jasu Barad, the Congress lawmaker from the constituency, passed away in January.
In Telangana, ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti unseated Congress in Palair constituency in Khammam district with its candidate Tummala Nageswara Rao, Roads and Buildings Minister, winning by a margin of 45,682 votes against Congress nominee
Sucharita Reddy, wife of PCC leader Ramreddy Venkat Reddy whose death necessitated the bypoll.
Sucharita Reddy was supported by TDP and YSRCP.
Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party retained both Jangipur and Bilari assembly seats defeating nearest BJP challengers.
In Bilari, SP candidate Mohammad Fahim won the election by a margin of 7,063 votes against his nearest rival Suresh Saini of BJP and in Jangipur (Ghazipur) seat, SP candidate Kismati Devi defeated her nearest rival Ramesh Singh of BJP by 22,092 votes.
Congress nominees in the two seats forefeited their security deposits while BSP did not contest the bypolls. Jangipur fell vacant when sitting lawmaker and cabinet minister Kailash Yadav died in February while bypoll in Bilari was necessitated following the death of 64-year-old Haji Irfan in a road accident on March 10.
In Meghalaya, Conrad K Sangma, son of former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma, won the Tura Lok Sabha by-election by a huge margin of nearly two lakh votes to retain the seat held by his late father for over four decades.