Consolidating its position, the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested high-profile Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh from the Samajwadi Party and won three assembly seats, including that of Chief Minister Manik Saha, in Tripura in by-election results announced on Sunday.
After much flip-flop, the Congress decided to form an alliance with the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) and the two parties fielded their joint candidate -- Rajkumar Roat. However, the Congress candidate, Arvind Damor, whose name was announced before the stitching of the alliance, has refused to withdraw his nomination.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said that the defeat of Janata Dal-United in Maharajganj bypoll has no bearing on the National Democratic Alliance.
Clearly alliances will be key for the Congress and the BJP and for that matter the UNPA in 2009 and in the state polls in the Hindi heartland later this year. The just held by-polls have only underscored this.
A replica of a coffin with late chief minister Jayalalithaa's figurine was on Thursday deployed by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) faction as part of campaign for the RK Nagar assembly bypoll, highlighting its demand for a probe into her death.
Seeking to buck the trend of recent Parliamentary election in which BJP decimated them, Janata Dal-United, RJD and Congress announced an alliance among the three for bypoll in 10 Assembly seats in Bihar, considered as semi-final before the crucial state poll next year.
The road ahead is not smooth for the 25 Congress defectors to the BJP. They are seeking re-election on the BJP ticket, which they campaigned against less than two years ago, and are finding it difficult to explain to the voters why they "betrayed" their parent party. If political analysts are to be believed, the results may surprise many of them, reports Sandeep Kumar.
The junior Abdullah would be banking heavily on Shia support as the constituency has many Shia dominated areas that include Budgam, Beerwah, Pattan, Sonawari and Bandipora, among other pockets.
He said his faction will formally file a petition with the Election Commission of India on Friday.
"The bypoll outcome will clearly reflect the yearning of the people of Telangana for statehood," TRS legislator T Harish Rao said in Sangareddy town on Friday.
In the brief history of the hill state of Uttarakhand, there has not been a single instance where a chief minister has lost a by-election, reports Shishir Prashant.
Internal bickering in the Haryana Congress on Friday came to the fore with the party "unanimously" passing a resolution demanding action against all those who "sabotaged" the party nominees' chances in the Hisar Lok Sabha bye-election.
Congress candidate R Selvaraj defeated the CPI-M's F Lawrence by a comfortable margin of 6,334 votes in the June 4 bypoll whose outcome has come as a morale-booster to the one-year old Oommen Chandy ministry. Selvaraj had resigned as CPI-M member of the assembly in March this year citing serious differences with the party leadership, causing the byelection, before joining Congress
Addressing an election rally in the family bastion of Saifai, Akhilesh Yadav also asserted that his party will register a historic win in the bypoll.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party alliance and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi are facing multiple problems in Lok Sabha seats like Sangli, Madha and Satara in western Maharashtra due to political dynasties, old rivalries and one-upmanship, prompting a flurry of meetings before five phase polls begin in the state on April 19.
Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal on Wednesday won Maharajganj Lok Sabha bypoll by a convincing margin of over 1.37 lakh votes.
The UP CM failed to launch any major infrastructure project of its own, including the proposed Purvanchal Expressway, and also rid the roads of potholes by June 2017.
Shivpal Yadav is campaigning for Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav in Mainpuri seat, which fell vacant due to the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said he might not campaign for the by-elections to a couple of assembly segments in the state where his current ally Rashtriya Janata Dal is locked in a straight contest with his former alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party.
Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao said their sounding victory was an indication that the people of Karnataka had given their approval to the coalition government's policies.
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
In a keenly watched outcome, counting of votes in the bye-elections to one constituency each in Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry will be taken up on Thursday.
Zoram People's Movement's working chairman K Sapdanga made the announcement after the Congress accused the party of entering into a "secret understanding" with the BJP for forming a post-poll alliance.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday failed to retain Kasba Peth assembly seat, its stronghold in Maharashtra's Pune district, as Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar defeated the saffron party nominee Hemant Rasane in the bypoll.
The ruling Congress, voted to office in 2018 after 15 years in opposition, and the Bharatiya Janata Party are the main contenders for power in the state, where the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and some regional outfits are also in the fray.
If everything goes according to plan, a resuscitated SAD could emerge as a central player in Punjab in three years, notes Aditi Phadnis.
The results for the bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Telangana, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tripura were announced on Tuesday.
A government middle school in Shopian's Padarpora was set ablaze by unidentified people and on Sunday. The government high school in Pulwama was razed to the ground in a similar manner.
A young Congress candidate has created history in the Andhra Pradesh assembly bypolls by securing a previously unheard of majority of 1,92000 votes. P Vishnuvardhan Reddy of Congress, who was fielded from Khairatabad assembly constituency after the death of his father P Janardhan Redddy, a popular leader, won the seat with a massive margin by defeating his nearest rival of Lok Satta Party.
He was disqualified as Lok Sabha member on January 25, days after a sessions court at Kavaratti had convicted him and three others on charges of attempting to murder P Salih and sentenced all the three to rigourous imprisonment for 10 years.
I was lucky to be born to the family of Balasaheb Thackeray, Uddhav said.
Shinde, Thackeray can't use party name and its symbol in the Andheri East assembly bypoll.
Elections to 10 Rajya Sabha seats, including those held by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien, will be held on July 24, the Election Commission (EC) said on Tuesday.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist has decided to support the Telugu Desam Party in the Assembly byelections in Andhra Pradesh, except in the four constituencies being contested by the Left parties. The party however said this alliance would stand only for the bye-polls and did not extend to general elections to the Assembly and Lok Sabha.
Days after Lal Kishenchand Advani was declared the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for prime ministership for the Lok Sabha elections slated to be held in February 2009 unless Parliament is dissolved earlier, massive defeats in two bypolls in Khargone for Lok Sabha and the Sanver MLA seat sent the party top brass in a tizzy.
The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
Any adverse electoral fallout in Thrikkakara by-poll may have an impact on Rahul Gandhi because this falls in the state he represents as a member of Parliament and KC Venugopal because it is his home state, reports Shine Jacob.
The bypolls for four seats were conducted on September 16.
'After Modi, Yogi is the most popular face of Hindutva, but it's too early to say that he is someone who could succeed Modi.'
