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What the winning parties said on 31 May bypoll verdict

What happened today was a successful test for a ‘united opposition’ ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections against a single party which rules the Centre and 15 states on its own, and is a part of the government in five other states.

What the winning parties said on 31 May bypoll verdict

(Photo: IANS)

With the verdict out for four Lok Sabha and 11 Assembly bypolls, successful parties have started giving their winning speeches and comments.

The four Lok Sabha constituencies that went to bypolls were Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, Bhandara-Gondia and Palghar in Maharashtra, and Kohima – the lone Parliamentary seat in Nagaland.

The 11 Vidhan Sabha seats include Maharashtra (Palus Kadegaon), Uttar Pradesh (Noorpur), Bihar (Jokihat), Jharkhand (Gomia and Silli), Kerala (Chengannur), Meghalaya (Ampati), Punjab (Shahkot), Uttarakhand (Tharali), West Bengal (Maheshtala) and Karnataka (RR Nagar).

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What happened today was a successful test for a ‘united opposition’ ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections against a single party which rules the Centre and 15 states on its own, and is a part of the government in five other states.

The BJP could manage to win just two of the 15 seats and lost three. The Congress, on the other hand, took four in its bag.

Read More: BJP loses big in bypolls, united opposition flexes muscles ahead of 2019 elections

Here is a look at what the winning parties from different seats are saying.

Kairana (UP)

After wresting the high-stake Kairana Lok Sabha seat from BJP, the Rashtriya Lok Dal said the united opposition had succeeded in halting the BJP’s “chariot of hate” in Uttar Pradesh. RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan, with the backing of the combined opposition, defeated BJP’s Mriganka Singh, the daughter of Hukum Singh whose death necessitated the bypoll.

Party leader Jayant Chaudhary said, “I am confident that RLD will play a role in how to carry forward the opposition unity and alliance and ensure we give an alternative to BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Whatever the alliance, we will play a positive role.”

He added: “The BJP is used to high-decibel and high-voltage campaign. They use the media and are visible in all forums. They use all the strength at their command to win elections by any means and the nation saw how Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in neighbouring Baghpat on Sunday to influence voters here. The Chief Minister and Deputy Minister, MPs and MLAs were all here to rake up the agenda of riots. But the people did not accept it. Their agenda has been rejected.”

Noorpur (Uttar Pradesh)

In another setback for BJP, the Noorpur Assembly was won by Samajwadi Party, which had the support of the “united opposition”. After the victory, SP chief and former CM Akhilesh Yadav said: “I want to congratulate all the people who voted for us. This is a defeat for those who do not believe in the democracy. People have given a befitting reply to the BJP.”

He said they had learnt from the BJP the game that it played with them. “Jo khel woh (BJP) humaare saath khelte the, wahi khel humne seekha hai unse,” said Akhilesh, adding: “Yeh kaha gaya ki kisaanon ka karz maaf hoga, par hua kya? Balki kisaanon ki jaan chali gayi. Yeh bahot bada dhokha hai. (It was promised that farmers’ loans would be waived, but did it happen? On the contrary, they lost their lives. It was a betrayal.”

Jokihat (Bihar)

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) registered a thumping victory in the Jokihat assembly seat, wresting the seat from ruling JD(U) in Bihar’s Araria district.

Addressing the media after the results were out, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said: “People have proved that this is the victory of Laluwaad (Lalu Prasad Yadav’s ideology) over Awasarwaad (opportunism).”

The former deputy chief minister in the Mahagathbandhan government and younger son of party chief Lalu Yadav said, “The verdict is a gift to Nitish Kumar who distributed 2 lakh swords on Ram Navami. Today those who spread poison have been defeated.”

Maheshtala (West Bengal)

Ruling Trinamool Congress retained the Maheshtala assembly seat with an impressive margin, while the BJP finished second displacing the CPI-M. TMC candidate Dulal Das beat BJP’s Sujit Kumar Ghosh by 62,896 votes. Dulal Das is the husband of Kasturi Das, the Trinamool MLA from Maheshtala whose death necessitated the bypoll.

TMC leader Derek O’Brien posted a tweet after the verdict highlighting that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “Double D model (development & diversity)” ensured the party’s victory as other parties only fought for the second spot.

He tweeted: “5 points from  #Bengal Assembly #bypoll result:

1. Margin up from 12k in 2016 to 62k

2. Others only fighting for 2nd spot

3. Didi’s Double D model (development & diversity) reaffirmed

3. Big win in @abhishekaitc’s Parl constituency

4. Polling peaceful with central forces.”

 


Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia (Maharashtra)

The BJP won Palghar but lost Bhandara-Gondia. In Palghar the BJP was up in arms against Shiv Sena, its ally in the state and the Centre. In Bhandara-Gondia, the NCP candidate Madhukar Kukde defeated BJP’s Hemant Patle by 20,583 votes.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that democracy assures that people have the right to vote against any government.

“We lost in Bhandara-Gondia. We accept the defeat. There was no drought in the past 20-25 years. But this year, the situation is bad. If the election was held after the rains, the result would have been different,” he said.

Though the BJP retained Palghar seat, Fadnavis expressed disappointment at Shiv Sena’s move of giving ticket to Shriniwas Wanaga, the son of BJP’s deceased leader Chintaman Wanaga.

“We performed well in Palghar. I thank the voters of Palghar for showing faith in us,” he said, adding, “Wanaga family is like our family and our doors are always open to them.”

Read More: Lok Sabha, Assembly bypoll results: Full list of winners

Chengannur (Kerala)

CPI(M) candidate Saji Cherian won Chengannur, a municipal town in the Alappuzha district, with a record margin of 20,956 votes. He secured 67,303 votes against Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate D Vijayakumar, who got 46,347 votes.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hailed his party’s win as the victory of truth over “falsehoods” spread against his government. He said that the victory is proof that the people are happy with government’s policy. “The politics in Kerala has transcended the divisions of caste and religion,” he said.

Ampati (Meghalaya)

Congress candidate Miani D Shira won this constituency with a margin of just 3,191 votes beating her nearest rival Clement G Momin of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP). NPP commands the highest number of seats in the coalition government in Meghalaya, of which BJP is a part.

Shira is the daughter of Congress leader Mukul Sangma. The former CM of Meghalaya took to Twitter to post a simple message that read “Thank you Ampati” and carried a picture of him hugging his daughter.

 

Shahkot (Punjab)

Congress party candidate Hardev Singh Laddi won Shahkot Assembly bypoll in Jalandhar district of Punjab by defeating his nearest rival, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) nominee Naib Singh Kohar, by a margin of 38,801 votes. Laddi got 82,745 votes while Akali Dal’s candidate Kohar polled 43,944 votes.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that the win proves that the people of the state are happy with his government’s developmental policies. He also said that the “decimation” of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is now complete.

“People of #Shahkot have given a massive thumbs up to @INCPunjab govt’s development policies. @Akali_Dal_ never worked for Shahkot even though the people gave them many opportunities. @AAPPunjab decimation will be complete with this humiliating defeat,” he wrote on Twitter.

 

Tharali (Uttarakhand)

The BJP retained the Tharali assembly seat, defeating arch rival Congress in a head-to-head fight. The Congress failed to break the losing streak in the hill state. BJP’s Munni Devi won the Tharali bye-election by a margin of 1981 votes. Munni Devi got 25,737 votes and Congress candidate Dr Jeet Ram secured 23,756 votes.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said, “The win was possible due to the hard work of party workers. The fight was head-to-head and that’s why the win margin is not big. The polling was low as the villagers have moved to high Himalayas for collecting herbs, which is source of their livelihood.”

Gomia and Silli (Jharkhand)

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) won both Silli and Gomia assembly bypolls. Seema Devi Mahto defeated All Jharkhand Students Union’s (AJSU) Sudesh Mahto by 10,000 votes in Silli and Babita Devi bested AJSU’s Lambodar Mahto and BJP’s Madhav Lal Singh by around 4,000 votes in Gomia.

Hemant Soren, leader of opposition in Jharkhand assembly, sought the resignation of Chief Minister Raghubar Das, who is from the BJP, on moral grounds.

“It is not just a defeat of the candidates of ruling alliance but people have given a message that they no longer have confidence in the government,” he reportedly said.

RR Nagar (Karnataka)

Congress leader Muniratna secured 1,08,064 votes in the bypoll here. BJP’s Thulsi Muniraju Gowda came in second with 82,572 votes and JD(S)’ GH Ramachandra secured 60,380 votes.

Though all of Karnataka went to polls on 12 May, bye-elections for this constituency in Bengaluru region was rescheduled for 28 May by the Election Commission following the recovery of 9,567 electoral photo identity cards from a flat in Jalahalli on 9 May.

The Congress, which had won 78 seats in the recently concluded Karnataka assembly elections, now has 79 seats in the Karnataka assembly.

“Congrats to Munirathna @INCIndia candidate on winning the #RRNagar #bypolls by a huge margin. People of #Bengaluru have recognised the work done by @siddaramaiah govt. Out of 27 now we’ve won 14,” wrote Dinesh Gundu Rao of the Congress on Twitter.

 

Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said that the RR Nagar win is the victory of truth.

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