Congress loses all the three bypoll

Mangalore Today / PTI

New Delhi, Oct 17: A severe drubbing for the Congress in Hisar and two other losses in Assembly bypolls, Khadakvasala in Maharashtra and Banswada in Andhra Pradesh. The party is continuing to put up a brave face, dismissing suggestions that Team Anna which campaigned against the party played any role in the Battle for Hisar.

In Hisar, Haryana the Congress candidate lost his deposit with Kuldeep Bishnoi supported by the BJP winning. In the the Pawar stronghold of Khadakwasla, the BJP-Sena combine won. In Siwan, Bihar, the JDU candidate supported by the BJP who won, as was expected.

Hisar: Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress (Bhajan Lal) won the Hisar Lok Sabha by-elections defeating his nearest rival Ajay Singh Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal by 6323 votes. Bishnoi was also supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Congress candidate Jai Prakash was a distant third despite his party being in power in the state. Jai Prakash (58) is a former Union minister and three-time MP from Hisar. He had won the seat in 2004 Lok Sabha elections as Congress nominee.

Kuldeep Bishnoi (42) got 3,55,941 votes, Ajay Chautala (50) was second with 3,49,618 while Jai Prakash could manage only 1,49,785 votes.

Even though the main battle was between Bishnoi and Chautala; Anna Hazare call to not vote in favour of the Congress candidate had given the by-election an interesting twist.

Bishnoi, however, declined to credit Team Anna for his win and instead said that Anna Hazare should have targeted all corrupt parties and not just the Congress.


Telangana by-election: Congress loses by 50,000 votes


Hyderabad:  In Telangana, a by-election held today brought great news for those who’ve been campaigning for a new state. The winner is from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) which has fronted the movement for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. 

The TRS is headed by K Chandrasekhara Rao, a.k.a KCR; his insistence on statehood for Telangana has echoed among leaders of different political parties who belong to this region. Many MPs and MLAs have been forced to give in their resignation letter to show their loyalty to the Telangana cause.

Pocharam Srinivas Reddy won today’s election in Banswada. He represented the constituency on behalf of N Chandrababu Naidu’s party, the TDP. But he switched sides because he felt the TDP had not taken a strong enough stand on supporting a Telangana state. The TDP didn’t field a candidate against him. The Congress, which is in power in the state, put up a candidate who lost by nearly 50,000 votes.


Congress-NCP loses Khadakwasla assembly by-poll


Pune:  Maharashtra’s ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance was defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena combine in the Khadakwasla assembly by-election.

Bhimrao Tapkir, who belongs to the BJP, trounced the Congress-NCP nominee Harshada Wanjale by a margin of 4,000 votes. The polling took place on October 13.

Hailing Tapkir’s victory, BJP leader Eknath Khadse said it was "not surprising but on expected lines" in view of the Congress-NCP’s "misrule" in the state.

Ironically, the seat was earlier held by Harshada Wanjale’s late husband Ramesh Wanjale, who belonged to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. His widow contested on NCP ticket but could not capture popular imagination.