New Delhi
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]E[/dropcap]ven before it could recover from the Bihar route, the BJP suffered a major setback in the lok sabha by-polls , when in the party stronghold of Madhya Pradesh it conceded the Rathlam-Jhabua lok sabha seat to the Congress. In Telangana, the BJP nominee came a poor third behind the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Congress in the by-poll for the Warangal reserved constituency.
Few would have expected the BJP to wrest the Warangal seat from the ruling TRS, but its failure to retain the tribal-dominated Ratlam-Jhabua in MP has sent shock waves among the party leadership. The BJP has been ruling MP for 16 years and had swept the lok sabha polls in the state.
The victory will be interpreted as a verdict against the performance of the Modi government at the Centre because the BJP comfortably retained the Dewas assembly seat. Similarly, the BJP won two assembly eats in Manipur. The difference in the party’s show in the state level polls and national polls shows that the voters may be growing disenchanted with the performance of the Central Government.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]F[/dropcap]ormer Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria (Congress) defeated Nirmala Bhuria, daughter of Dileep Singh Bhuria, whose death caused the by poll by a margin of 88,832 votes. Kantilal got 5,36,743 votes while Nirmala bagged 4,47,911. Janata Dal (U) candidate Vijay Haari polled 21,549 votes.
The defeat is particularly alarming for the BJP since its candidate Dileep Singh Bhuria had won the Lok Sabha seat in 2014 by a margin over 108,000 votes. The shift of nearly 200,000 votes away from the BJP means more than 17 per cent BJP voters preferred the Congress nominee this time. Such a huge shift of voters in a state where the party’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is credited with excellent governance, is attributed to rising anger of the people towards the non-performance of the Central Government.
The Janata Dal (U) which has little support base outside Bihar tried to explore its fortunes in the state by stitching together an alliance comprising CPI, CPM, Gondwana Gantantra Party and Bahujan Sangarsh Dal, but the party’s candidate could manage just over 21,000 votes.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap]n Warangal, the ruling TRS candidate Pasunoori Dayakar won by a record e margin of nearly 4.6 lakh votes to retain the seat for the party. Dayakar polled 6,15,403 votes whereas Congress nominee and former Union Minister Sarve Satyanarayana got 1,56,311 and BJP-TDP combine’s Pagidipati Devaiah (BJP) got just 1,30,178 votes.
In Meghalaya, Opposition Hill State Democratic Party (HSPDP) retained the Nongstoin Assembly seat in close contest with the Congress. The HSPDP candidate Diostar Jyndiang won the bye-election by a margin of 2,763 votes over rival Congress’ Gabriel Wahlang. Jyndiang secured 11,179 votes, Congress candidate secured a total of 8,416 votes.
The defeat for the Congress comes close on the hills of its disastrous performance in the Garo tribal autonomous council elections in which the party won just seven of the 29 seats they Contested. The BJP’s allies, the National People’s Party (NPP), had got the major share of the seats.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap]n Manipur, the BJP captured both the seats — Thangmeiband and Thongju – that went to polls. This has come as a major boost for the party that is aspiring to capture power in the 2017 assembly polls by unseating the Congress. The BJP has never beena major force in Manipur but over period of time it is gaining acceptance in the state.
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