New Delhi, Nov 23 – The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), are leading in six of the nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, according to trends for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats across 13 states. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) held strong in West Bengal, while the Congress maintained its position in Karnataka.
In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress each claimed a seat in the four-seat bypolls, with Congress candidate Kuldeep Singh Dhillon winning the Barnala seat and AAP’s Ishank Kumar Chabbewal securing Chabbewal.
The Rajasthan bypolls saw a tight race, with BJP, Congress, and Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) candidates leading in two seats each, while an Independent was ahead in Jhunjhunu. In Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh, BJP candidates were leading in their respective constituencies.
In Bihar, the ruling NDA alliance secured leads in all four assembly constituencies, while in Assam, the ruling party led in four out of five seats.
In Meghalaya, the National People’s Party (NPP) gained ground with a victory in the Gambegre bypoll, where Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s wife, Mehtab Chandee Agitok Sangma, won by a margin of over 4,500 votes.
The bypolls also included elections for two Lok Sabha seats, one in Wayanad (Kerala) and another in Nanded (Maharashtra). In Wayanad, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was leading, while in Nanded, the BJP candidate was ahead.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP and RLD were leading in six seats, including Kundarki, Khair, Ghaziabad, Phulpur, and Majhawan, with RLD’s Mithilesh Pal ahead in Meerapur. The Samajwadi Party (SP) was leading in three constituencies: Karhal, Katehari, and Sisamau.
The TMC in West Bengal reinforced its dominance by securing victories in three seats, including wresting the Madarihat seat from the BJP. The party also maintained unassailable leads in three other constituencies.
In Karnataka, the ruling Congress was leading in all three seats: Channapatna, Shiggaon, and Sandur.
In Kerala, Congress-led UDF candidate Rahul Mamkootathil extended his lead by over 15,000 votes in the Palakkad assembly bypoll, while LDF candidate U R Pradeep maintained his lead by over 11,000 votes in Chelakkara.
In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress candidate was leading by 4,747 votes in the Vijaypur assembly seat, while BJP’s candidate was ahead by 5,362 votes in Budhni.
In Chhattisgarh, BJP’s Sunil Kumar Soni was leading by 20,629 votes over Congress’ Akash Sharma in the Raipur City South assembly bypoll. In Gujarat, Congress candidate Gulabsinh Rajput widened his lead by 13,978 votes over BJP’s Swarupji Thakor.
Bypolls were held in various constituencies, including nine seats in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four each in Punjab and Bihar, three in Karnataka, and two each in Madhya Pradesh and Kerala. There were also single-seat bypolls in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, and Meghalaya.
