The Bharatiya Janata Party has won seven seats, the Congress four and the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) one when counting for 12 out of 20 Assembly seats in various States, where byelections were held on September 10, was taken up on Monday.
The counting for the seven seats in Bihar and one seat in the National Capital Territory of Delhi will be taken up on September 17 as byelections for some seats are to be held in Bihar and Delhi on Tuesday.
The BJP won Jasdan, Chotila, Dehgam, Danta and Sami in Gujarat, Tendukheda in Madhya Pradesh and Vikasnagar in Uttarakhand. The Congress gained the Tekkali seat in Andhra Pradesh, Kodinar and Dhoraji in Gujarat and Gohad in Madhya Pradesh.
In Sikkim, the ruling SDF retained its seat in Namchi Singithong.In Bihar, elections were held in Bochaha (SC), Aurai, Kalyanpur, Warisnagar (SC), Ramgarh, Chainpur and Chenari (SC) and in Delhi it was for the Dwarka seat.
On Tuesday Assembly by-elections will be held for 12 seats, including Okhla in Delhi.In Bihar, by-polls will be held for Bagaha (SC), Nautan, Begusarai, Tribeniganj, Simri–Bakhtiarpur, Araria, Dhuraiya (SC), Munger, Phulwari (SC), Ghosi and Bodh Gaya (SC) seats.
Test case for Modi
Manas Dasgupta reports from Gandhinagar:
In Gujarat, the byelections were considered to be a major test case for Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who failed to motivate the voters in the State in the parliamentary elections.
It was all the more creditable for the BJP as six of the seven seats where the by-elections were held were Congress seats. For traditional Congress bastions such as Chotila, Jasdan and Danta, it was the first victory for the BJP in more than a decade.
Barring Dhoraji in Porbandar district, which was retained by the Congress, all the other six seats changed hands. Kodinar in Junagadh district, which was held by the BJP earlier, went to the Congress kitty, while the five Congress seats — Chotila in Surendranagar district, Jasdan in Rajkot district, Danta in Banaskantha district, Sami-Harij in Patan district and Dehgam in Gandhinagar district — were captured by the BJP.
