Pretoria:
The Congress' loss in Hisar election was not a surprise. But its candidate, Jaiprakash, fared so poorly that he lost his deposit. He has in the past represented this part of Harayana in the Lok Sabha, and though he placed third in the 2009 elections too, he has done worse this time around. The defeat in Hisar was accompanied for the Congress by other losses in assembly by-elections in Maharashtra, Telangana and Bihar.
"One by election cannot be a reflection of the performance of my government," said the Prime Minister in reference to Hisar. Dr Manmohan Singh is currently on a trip to South Africa.
The opposition BJP has seized the Congress' poor showing to bolster its claim that the UPA government will not last its full term.
"It is the people's warning to the government that they are tired of the prevailing corruption. The results of the by-polls are a reflection of the government's inability to govern," said the BJP's LK Advani.
The opposition BJP has seized the Congress' poor showing to bolster its claim that the UPA government will not last its full term.
The Hisar election was necessitated after Bhajan Lal of the Harayana Janhit Congress died in June. His son, Kuldeep Bishnoi, won yesterday's election.
Hisar turned into a battleground between Team Anna and the Congress, with activists asking people not to vote for the Congress. They say the party must accept that unless it helps push through a new bill to tackle corruption - the Lokpal Bill - it will be rejected in elections.