M A I N   N E W S

Jaya, Modi win Assembly byelections
Gowda, Scindia jr LS victors 

New Delhi, February 24
AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi were among the winners of the Assembly byelections — seven in five states — while the six Lok Sabha bypolls in as many states returned former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda to Parliament besides giving a record-first win to Jyotiraditya, son of the late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia.

Ms Jayalalithaa was poised to return for a third stint as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister having easily won the Andipatti byelection. She defeated her nearest DMK rival Vaigai Sekar by 41,201 votes, polling 78,437 votes to Mr Sekar’s 37,236.

Mr Modi, who replaced Mr Keshubhai Patel as Gujarat Chief Minister in October last year, won the Rajkot-II Assembly seat defeating his nearest Congress rival Ashwin Mehta to enter the state legislature through his first-ever electoral contest.

While Mr Modi registered an impressive victory of 14,728 votes, his BJP lost by huge margins in both the Sayajiganj (Vadodara) and Mahuva-ST (Surat) constituencies in the state.

Mr Gowda, the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate on the Kanakapura Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka, defeated his nearest Congress rival and state Cooperation Minister D.K. Shivakumar by a margin of 50,000 votes. The JD(S) wrested the seat from the Congress.

In Guna, MP, Congress candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia trounced his nearest BJP rival Deshraj Singh Yadav by a record margin of 4,06,568 votes in the byelection caused by the death of his father.

In a nine-cornered contest, the Scindia scion mustered 5,35,728 votes while Mr Yadav could manage only 1,29,160 votes. The remaining candidates lost their security deposits.

In Sayajiganj, in Gujarat, where the byelection was necessitated due to the resignation of BJP rebel and former minister Jaspal Singh a few months ago, Congress candidate Dalsukh Prajapati defeated his nearest BJP rival Jitendra Sukhadia by 22,544 votes.

Mr Prajapati polled 77,229 votes while Mr Sukhadia got 54,685. Mr Jaspal Singh, who contested on the Samajwadi Party ticket in a bid to retain the seat, however, polled only 6,980 votes and — together with nine other candidates — lost his deposit.

In the Mahuva (ST) constituency, Congress nominee Ishwar Vahia defeated his nearest BJP rival Manubhai Patel by a margin of 12,695 votes.

Among the other Assembly byelections, Congress candidate Amar Kale won the Arvi seat in Maharashtra, defeating his nearest rival Vijay Annaji Mude (BJP) by an impressive margin of 29,800 votes. The byelection was necessitated due to the death of sitting MLA Sharad Kale, father of the victor.

The ruling Indian National Lok Dal wrested the Yamunanagar Assembly seat from the Congress when its candidate Malik Chand Ghambir defeated his nearest rival Sahib Singh, of the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) by a margin of 12,873 votes.

In the Assembly byelection to the Ajmer West constituency in Rajasthan, Mr Nanakram Jagatrai Sindhi of the ruling Congress defeated his BJP rival Laxmandas Machiswala by 4,651 votes.

Mr Jagatrai polled 24,314 votes while Mr Machiswala got 19,663 in this Sindhi-dominated constituency in the shrine city. The byelection was necessitated by the death of state minister Kishan Motwani (Congress). UNI