Disappointment in northeast but bypoll results bring some joy for Congress

NEW DELHI: Even though the Congress failed to impress in the assembly elections in the three northeastern states, the party managed to make decent gains in the simultaneous bypolls in 5 states.

The party wrested the Kasba Peth assembly seat from BJP in Maharashtra, recorded a big win in Tamil Nadu's Erode and is poised for a victory in West Bengal's Sagardighi.

Meanwhile, the BJP looks set to retain its other seat in Maharashtra.

Here's a look at the bypoll results ...
Kasba and Chinchwad | Maharashtra
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday failed to retain Kasba Peth Assembly seat, its stronghold in Maharashtra's Pune district, as Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar defeated the saffron party nominee Hemant Rasane in the bypoll.

The BJP was in power in Kasba Peth constituency for 28 years. Girish Bapat, the current BJP MP from Pune, represented the seat five times till 2019.

This time, Dhangekar, having support of the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Nationalist Congress Party, Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), managed to breach the BJP's stronghold.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party's Ashwini Jagtap is headed for a win in Chinchwad seat, leading NCP's Vitthal alias Nana Kate by a margin of over 8,000 votes.

The byelections in Chinchwad was necessitated due to the death of incumbent BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap. Ashwini Jagtap is the wife of BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap,

Erode | Tamil Nadu
EVKS Elangovan, the Congress party candidate in Tamil Nadu's Erode bypolls, is eyeing a landslide victory.

He leading against AIADMK's KS Thennarasu by a huge margin of over 47,000 votes.

The byelection was necessitated by the death of Congress MLA Thirumahan Everaa earlier this year. Thirumahan, son of Elangovan, died of a cardiac arrest on January 04 at the age of 46.

As the ruling DMK-backed Congress nominee took a virtually unassailable lead in the Erode East bypoll, the party president and Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Thursday said the good show was a public endorsement of the "Dravidian model of governance" of his 22-month old government.

Sagardighi | West Bengal
In Sagardighi, the Left-backed Congress candidate Bayron Biswas is secured a comfortable victory over TMC rival Debashish Banerjee.

He won by a margin of nearly 23,000 votes.

The results will be a big setback for the TMC, which has been winning the Sagardighi seat since 2011 and won in 2021 by a margin of nearly 50,000 votes.

If Biswas manages to win the by-election, also being seen as a prestige fight for state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury in his home district, it will be the party's first seat in the current assembly, the strength of which is 294.

"I am confident about my victory. People here are fed up with the corruption and misrule of the TMC," Biswas said.

Chowdhury said the party's victory is dedicated to the joint fight by the Congress and the Left supporters in the district.

"The result proves that Mamata Banerjee is not invincible. We will re-establish democracy in West Bengal. We have fought this election in alliance with the Left, and it is a victory of the coalition. People have reposed their faith in us and discarded both the TMC and the BJP," Chowdhury told reporters.

The by-election to West Bengal's Sagardighi assembly seat was necessitated after the death of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Subrata Saha in December 2022.

Jharkhand | Ramgarh
In Ramgarh, All Jharkhand Students Union Party (AJSU) candidate Sunita Choudhary posted an easy win against her Congress opponent Bajrang Mahto. She won by a margin of over 21,000 votes.

The bypolls were necessitated because of the disqualification of Congress leader Mamta Devi.

Notably, Mahto is the husband of Mamta Devi.



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