M A I N   N E W S

Bypoll boost for BJP, Cong draws a blank
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 5
The Congress today suffered a setback in the byelections to four Lok Sabha seats across the States of Bihar, Gujarat and West Bengal as it failed to win even a single seat. It also faced the ignominy of conceding all six (two Lok Sabha and four Assembly) seats to the BJP in Gujarat.

BJP’s Vithal Radadia and Haribhai Chaudhary wrested the Porbandar and the Banskantha Lok Sabha seats from the Congress with a margin of over 1.28 lakh and 71,000 votes, respectively. Vithhal Radadia defeated Congress’ Vinu Amipura. Vithhal had defected from the Congress after a controversy last year when he brandished a gun at a toll booth.

Haribhai Chaudhary wrested the Banaskantha seat from the Congress that was earlier held by Mukesh Gadhavi, whose death necessitated the byelection. Her widow Krishna Gadhavi was fielded by the Congress.

Congress candidates finished third in the Maharajgani (Bihar) and Howrah (West Bengal) Lok Sabha seats. In Maharajganj, Prabhunath Singh of the RJD defeated PK Shahi of the JD-U by over 1.4 lakh votes. Congress’ Jitender Swami could manage only around 22,000 votes. The bypoll was held to fill the vacancy caused due to the death of Uma Shankar Singh, father of the Congress candidate.

In Howrah, the Trinamool Congress retained the seat with Indian captain and Olympian football players Prasun Banerjee defeating CPM’s Sridip Bhattacharya by over 27,000 votes. The Congress, which contested the poll alone after its electoral alliance with the Trinamool Congress broke, could manage to secure just under 1 lakh votes for its candidate Santanu Mukherjee.

The Congress sought to downplay the electoral reversal by describing these as “local elections”. Party spokesman Sandeep Dikshit said: “Don’t see them as results of national elections. Every state has its own character....read it in the local context.”

LS bypoll show

• Porbandar (Gujarat)
  Vithhal Radadia (BJP) defeated Vinu Amipura (Congress) by over
  1.28 lakh votes
• Banskantha (Gujarat)
  Haribhai Chaudhary (BJP) defeated Krishna Gadhavi (Congress) by around
  71,000 votes
• Maharajgani (Bihar)
  Prabhunath Singh (RJD) defeated PK Shahi (JD-U) by over
  1.4 lakh votes
• Howrah (West Bengal)
  Prasun Banerjee (Trinamool Congress) defeated Sridip Bhattacharya (CPM) by around
  27,000 votes