BJP gets hope from by-poll results

New Delhi: Reeling under crises after its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a reason to celebrate when it won seven of the 12 by-polls to various state assemblies on Monday.

The Congress party received a setback, getting only four seats. The by-polls were necessitated in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim either because of the death of the legislators or sitting members getting elected to Parliament. The counting of votes for 12 seats took place on Monday.

The BJP won five seats in Gujarat and one each in Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. The Congress won in two constituencies in Gujarat and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The by-polls in Gujarat were being considered a popularity test for Chief Minister Narendra Modi, especially after the worse-than-expected performance of the BJP in the April-May parliamentary elections.

Besides the parliamentary polls debacle, the BJP suffered a defeat last month in the crucial municipal corporation election in its stronghold Junagadh.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi did not campaign for the Assembly by-polls after the party got only 15 of the 26 seats from Gujarat in the Lok Sabha elections while Modi had claimed that he would ensure the BJP got not less than 24.

The latest result is a setback for the Congress since it had six legislators from the seven that went to polls in Gujarat.

The party snatched from the BJP the Kodinar seat in the Saurashtra region while it retained the Dhoraji seat in the same region.

But the state's ruling party wrested Dehgam, Sami, Chotila and Jasdan from the Congress.

By winning Vikasnagar seat in Uttarakhand, the BJP has secured a majority in the state as its tally reaches 36 in the 70-member Assembly.

In Madhya Pradesh, both the BJP and the Congress won one seat each that went to the polls.

The BJP santched Tendukheda seat from the Congress as its candidate Bhaiyya Ram Patel won with a margin of over 13,000 votes.

The opposition Congress retained the Gohad seat in the state with its candidate Ranveer Jatav winning by 22,571 votes.

In Andhra Pradesh, which was in a state of shock after the tragic death of Chief Minister YS Rajsekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash on September 2, the ruling Congress retained the Tekkali Assembly seat.

In Tekkali constituency, K Bharati defeated K Atchan Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) by 7,173 votes. The by-poll was necessitated by the death of Bharati's husband K Revatipathy in June.

In Sikkim, the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front won the Namchi-Singhithang Assembly seat, leading the party to retain all the 32 seats in the house.

By-polls were held for 20 Assembly seats in seven states on September 10.