TMC sweeps Bengal, BJP holds on in MP

BJP and Trinamool Congress shared the honours by winning two Lok Sabha seats each, claiming it was a vindication of their stand on demonetisation, as ruling parties in six states and Puducherry held sway in by-elections, retaining most of the 10 Assembly seats up for grabs.

In the Assembly bypolls held on November 19, results of which were declared on Tuesday, BJP and AIADMK won three seats each, CPI(M) got two while Congress and Trinamool bagged one each.

BJP won the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat in Assam, vacated by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, by a margin of 1,90,219 votes and Shahdol Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, both ruled by the party.

Trinamool Congress swept Tamluk and Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal by a whopping margin of over 4.9 lakh votes, almost doubling the gap from 2014 polls.

Trinamool also won the Monteswar Assembly seat with candidates of CPI(M), Congress and BJP losing their deposits.

In Madhya Pradesh, BJP’s victory margin in Shahdol Lok Sabha came down to 60,000 from 2,41,301 in the 2014 general elections. It bagged the Nepanagar Assembly seat, where it increased its winning margin to 42,198 votes as against 22,178.

Continuing its electoral dominance amid hospitalisation of its supremo and Chief Minister Jayalalitha, the ruling AIADMK on Tuesday, romped home in all three Tamil Nadu Assembly segments that went to polls, triggering celebrations by party supporters across the state.

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, on a roll since 2011 winning back-to-back state elections and sweeping the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, wrested the Aravakkurichi seat from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and retained Thanjavur and Thiruparankundram by margins ranging from more than 20,000 votes to 42,000, dealing a blow to the Dravidian arch rival.

Elections were held to the constituencies on November 19 and the counting of votes was undertaken on Tuesday.

The ruling CPI(M) in Tripura wrested Barjala (SC) seat from Congress and retained Khowai.

Senior Congress leader and Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy won the bypoll to Nellithope Assembly seat defeating AIADMK’s Om Sakthi Segar by a margin of 11,144 votes.

North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) candidate Dasanglu Pul of BJP won Hayuliang assembly by-poll in Arunachal Pradesh defeating her lone rival Yompi Kri, an independent candidate, by 942 votes.

Pul is the youngest of the three wives of former Chief Minister Kalikho Pul. The bypoll was necessitated by his suicide.

Union Minister Ananth Kumar and Sonowal said the BJP’s win in the bypolls showed that people have endorsed the government’s decision against black money and corruption.

“BJP’s victory in bypolls is a clear indication that people are fully supporting the decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. It is people’s mandate for the PM’s decision of demonetisation,” Sonowal told reporters.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, however, termed the by-election result as a mandate against the Centre’s decision of demonetisation. 

“The by-election result is a befitting reply against the anti-people demonetisation by the Centre. It’s a people’s revolt, rather a mass revolt against the Centre. BJP should take lessons from this mandate,” she told newsmen in Kolkata before leaving for New Delhi to join the protest by the Opposition.