By-elections in 7 states: BSP scores in UP, TC in WB

Mangalore Today News Network

Congress wins all seats in Keral and Assam, BSP six of the eight seats in Uttar Pradesh, Trinamool-Congress combine bagged eight seats in West Bengal, Congress, BJP bag one seat each in Himachal and Rajasthan.

Nov 10: The by-elections to 31 assembly seats and one Lok Sabha constituency spread across seven states, on Tuesday saw major electoral reverses particularly in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, where key-contenders had to bite the dust.

In Firozabad parliamentary constituency, actor-turned Congress candidate Raj Babbar trounced Samajwadi Party greenhorn Dimple, daughter-in-law of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in a virtually straight contest. The prestigious seat, won by Dimple’s husband Akhilesh Yadav, was wrested by Congress by a margin of over 85,000 votes. Samajwadi Party suffered another embarrassment in the home-turf of its chief, when BSP wrested Etawah and Barthana seats in Etawah district from SP. Mulayam had won Bharthana in the last assembly elections.

In the Lucknow (West) Assembly seat, Congress toppled the apple cart of BJP in its favourite hunting ground, when Shyam Kishore Shukla defeated BJP nominee Amit Puri. BSP candidate and former state minister Swami Prasad Maurya defeated his nearest rival Shakir Ali of SP, by over 50,000 votes, while Congress candidate Mohini Devi, mother of union minister of state for surface transport RPN Singh was placed third. In 2007 elections, Singh had won the seat but resigned after being elected to the Lok Sabha.
Similarly in Jhansi Kailash Sahu of BSP defeated his nearest rival and independent candidate Vijendra Vyas by a slender margin of nine votes. Union Minister of state for Rural Development Pradeep Jain Aditya won from the seat in 2007 assembly polls, but later resigned after being elected to the Lok Sabha. The Left Front, which had fielded candidates in all the 10 seats in West Bengal, lost all but Goalpokhar constituency, when Forward Bloc won the seat represented by Deepa Dasmunsi of Congress and wife of ailing former Union Minister P R Dasmunsi. Deepa has entered the Lok Sabha.

CPI-M yielded Belgachia East seat to Trinamool candidate, which fell vacant following death of CPI(M) stalwart and former transport minister Subash Chakraborty. He had won from the seat for seven consecutive terms and the party had fielded his widow Ramala Chakraborty. In Kerala, the LDF suffered a blow in the politically sensitive Kannur, where Congress candidate and former CPI-M MP Abdullakutty emerged victorious by 12,000 votes over M V Jayarajan of CPI(M).

Abdullakutty, who represented Kannur twice in the Lok Sabha on a CPI-M ticket, was expelled from the party a few months back following serious differences with the Left leadership, after which he joined the Congress. Congress candidates Dominic Presentation trounced CPI-M’s P N Sinulal in Ernakulam by over 8000 votes, while his colleague A A Shukur retained Alappuzha seat by defeating G Krishaparasad of CPI by 4000 votes. The by-polls were necessitated by resignation of sitting Congress MLAs K Sudhakaran (Kannur), K V Thomas (Ernakulam) and K C Venugopal (Alappuzha) on getting elected to Lok Sabha.  

Courtesy: Deccan Herald