NEW DELHI: Eight assembly bypolls across the country held on Nov 11 bucked the one-way Bihar steamroller Friday, throwing up a mixed bag that offered Congress consolation in Rajasthan and Telangana while breaching J&K CM Omar Abdullah’s bailiwick Budgam. BJP and Congress bagged two seats each, PDP one, AAP one, JMM one, and Mizo National Front one in bypolls in J&K, Rajasthan, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, Punjab and Mizoram.
Overall, the governing parties in these states lost four of the eight seats.The most dramatic denouement unfolded in Budgam, where Aga Syed Muntazir of PDP won by 4,186 votes over Aga Syed Mehmood of Omar’s NC. In 2024, Omar defeated Muntazir by 18,485 votes but gave up Budgam to retain Ganderbal, the other seat he won.In Jammu, BJP’s Devyani Rana won by 24,647 votes Nagrota, retaining for her party the seat held by Devender Singh Rana, her father and ex-MLA who died within weeks of being elected last year. NC finished third.Rajasthan soothed the Bihar-battered Congress as its candidate Pramod Jain Bhaya won Anta, defeating the governing BJP’s Morpal Suman by over 15,000 votes. Previous BJP Anta MLA Kanwarlal Meena was jailed in May in a 2005 case, leading to his disqualification. Congress’s V Naveen Yadav clinched the prestigious Jubilee Hills bypoll in Hyderabad by over 24,000 votes. Triggered by previous BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath’s death, the bypoll fortifies CM Revanth Reddy’s position in Congress.In Punjab, governing AAP came up trumps in Tarn Taran with its candidate Harmeet Singh Sandhu defeating SAD’s Sukhwinder Kaur by over 12,000 votes.Odisha offered governing BJP a boost as it won Nuapada by over 83,000 votes. Victor Jay Dholakia is son of Rajendra Dholakia, the BJD MLA whose death necessitated the bypoll. Jharkhand saw JMM stamp its authority further as its debutant pick Somesh Chandra Soren won Ghatshila by 38,000 votes. Somesh is the son of Ramdas Soren, the previous JMM MLA who died in Aug.In Mizoram, MNF retained Dampa against the governing ZPM pick by 562 votes.
