Bypolls: BJP draws blank, Trinamool, Congress, RJD win
Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, April 16
The BJP on Saturday lost byelections to one Lok Sabha and four Assembly seats. The TMC won both Asansol Lok Sabha and Ballygunge Assembly seats in West Bengal, the Congress bagged two constituencies, one each in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, and the RJD won in Bihar.
Big victory
Shatrughan Sinha defeated BJP’s Agnimitra Paul by a whopping 3,03,209 votes
He bagged 6,56,358 votes
TMC candidate actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha defeated BJP’s Agnimitra Paul in the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency. Singer-turned-politician Babul Supriyo, who quit the BJP to join the TMC, won the Ballygunge Assembly seat.
The ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh won Khairagarh in the fourth bypoll victory since 2018 with Yashoda Verma defeating BJP’s Komal Janghel. The party had promised to make Khairagarh a district if it won the seat. The victory sets the tone for the next year’s Assembly poll in Chhattisgarh. The opposition RJD in Bihar wrested the Bochahan seat from the ruling NDA, with its candidate defeating the BJP nominee by a big margin. In Maharashtra the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi got a leg-up with the Congress’ Jayashri Jadhav defeating BJP’s Satyajeet Kadam.