It loses the Hisar Lok Sabha seat; JD(U) retains Daraunda in Bihar, TRS victorious in Banswada, BJP annexes Khadakwasla
The Congress failed to win a single seat in the recent by-elections whose results were announced on Monday: predictably, the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) retained the Hisar Lok Sabha seat in Haryana, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) kept the Daraunda Assembly seat in Bihar, and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) won the Banswada Assembly seat in Andhra Pradesh.
The only surprise came in Maharashtra's Khadakwasla Assembly seat, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), backed by the Shiv Sena-Republican Party of India (RPI) combine, defeated the Congress-supported Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate.
Counting in Tamil Nadu's Tiruchirapalli West and Puducherry's Indira Nagar Assembly seats will be taken up on October 20, to prevent their results influencing the current local body elections in Tamil Nadu.
The BJP hailed the victory of its candidates — one of its own, and two of its allies — as the “people's verdict against a corrupt Congress government at the Centre”; the Congress stressed that none of the seats was in its strongholds.
In Hisar, which gained national attention, thanks to Team Anna campaigning against the Congress there, the HJC-BJP combine's Kuldeep Bishnoi defeated his nearest rival, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)'s Ajay Singh Chautala, former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala's son.
He rode the sympathy wave created by the death of his father, the former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal. Mr. Bishnoi, however, won by a slender 6,323 votes, in a closely-fought battle. The Congress' Jaiprakash finished a poor third, even losing his deposit, even though he had won the seat thrice in the past, the last time in 2004.
In Banswada in Andhra Pradesh's Nizamabad district, TRS candidate Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy defeated the Congress' Srinivas Goud by 49,889 votes. The by-election was announced after Mr. Reddy, the sitting MLA resigned from the Telugu Desam Party, to join the TRS in the wake of the Telangana agitation.
In Bihar's Siwan district, the JD(U) retained Daraunda, trouncing both the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) combine. The JD(U)'s Kavita Singh is the daughter-in-law of the former MLA, Jagmato Devi, whose death necessitated this by-election. Ms. Singh defeated by 20,092 votes her nearest RJD rival, Parmeshwar Singh, who was backed by party strongmen Mohammad Shahabuddin and Prabhunath Singh.
However, in Maharashtra, the BJP pulled off a surprise win in Khadakwasla: the party's Bhimrao Tapkir defeated by 3,625 votes the NCP's Harshada Wanjale, the wife of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLA Ramesh Wanjale, whose death resulted in the by-election. While the SS-RPI combine backed the BJP, the Congress supported the NCP.
Keywords: Hisar bypoll, Hisar results, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Ajay Chautala
If congress not passing the Jan Lokpal Bill as they have more than 2 years to do the same........We all should take a oath not to vote for congress for the next 25 years.........Only vote for those who implement the same......
Its a local election with a local mandate. If it was Anna effect, then Chautala should have also lost his deposit. Instead, he cornered all the Jat vote and Bisnoi's win was quite narrow. So, this clearly was NOT Anna effect, as many claim. Thanks.
I concurr with Siva Subramani. In fact, you hit the nail right on the head. I would rather have a mild PM than these uncultured communal animals as PM. We cannot forget that we have to co-exist with rest of the world.
I am one of Anna's supporter and the whole movement India against corruption. However, I do not for a second take sides politically. This movement should not be interpreted as "against congress". This approach is setting a wrong precedence, if continued we will end up having Advani or Lalu Yadav or Mayavati as prime minister of India without us wanting them.
Let us hope and pray that the same trend will continue for all future elections and people punishing corrupt parties-the leading party in corruption being Congress at present.
People of India may have given notice against oligarchical and dynastic politics by going against the trend that was. The educated and intelligent youngsters are going 'outside the the box' to think for such a healthy change. What is happening in the Middle East are examples of such a change. Half of the Indian population is made up of young people and they will usher in the new changes and dynamics of Indian politics. Dynastic politics is dead and if it is not, it should be!!
Are these results,the forerunners of the debacle that the Congress will face in the 2014 General Elections?In any case the Haryana and Maharashtra results are resounding slaps on the face of the Congress which is now on notice that no magic wand will pull the party out of the morass it is in.2014 will hopefully be the pay-back time for the people to the Congress for all its misdeeds over the last seven years and the remaining three during which the Congress will probably have some more mega scams to its credit before its Swan Song.
well done the electorate of Hissar. By defeating two candidates, one of corrupt congress, the other son of ex "corrupt" chief minister of Haryana, you have proved your are intelligent and honest people to elect Mr Bishnoi. Let this be repeated in the general election.
Let us forget Anna factor for a moment. Why the Congress candidate who won thrice the Hisar seat in the past, has lost his deposit this time? The growing alienation of congress from the people due to uncontrolled corruption,the manner in which the Janlokpal issue has been handled from the beginning , the continuing failure to convince the nation by action to bring to books ALL the corrupt elements ,the untamed inflation, absurdity of BPL sermons, weak internal security infrastructure, growing extremism and terrorism,vacilating on the Telengana issue,non execution of death sentences for which mercy petitions were rejected by the President, attempts to meddle with RTI Act to dilute its efficacy,unwillingness to disclose the names of those who have parked their secret wealth in banks abroad, failure to repatriate the black money, selective use of the CBI with a political agenda, interministerial squabbles,growing tensions with China, etc. have trounced the congress party in these polls.
If the political parties and especially congress believes that the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare has no effect on the elections, then they should do so on their own peril. If the anti-corruption is still a burning issue by next general elections, then congress will loose. It is better that congress come out clean and pass the Lok Pal bill quickly.
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