Ruling parties won the by-elections to one Lok Sabha and six Assembly seats in various States, the results for which were declared on Monday. The AIADMK and the Trinamool Congress retained their seats with higher margins. The results indicate that while the BJP’s southern expansion plan would have to wait, the party is now a significant player in West Bengal.
While the AIADMK won in Srirangam and the Telugu Desam Party in Tirupati, the Trinamool won the Bongaon Lok Sabha and Krishnaganj Assembly seats. The BJP failed to dislodge the Trinamool in West Bengal, but is on the brink of edging out the Left parties as the principal opposition in the State.
The ruling parties won an Assembly by-election each in Goa (where BJP’s Sidharth Sripad bagged the Panaji seat vacated by former CM Manohar Parrikar) and Arunachal Pradesh, where Nyamar Karbak of the Congress won in Liromoba. In Maharashtra, the BJP’s Tushar Rathod won the Mukhed seat.
