New Delhi: In a significant boost for the Opposition, the INDIA bloc has secured two seats and is leading in nine as the votes are counted for the bypolls in 13 assembly seats across seven states on Saturday, July 13. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ahead in only two seats.
In Punjab, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Mohinder Bhagat won from Jalandhar West, defeating BJP nominee Sheetal Angural by a margin of over 37,000 votes. In Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur claimed victory in the Dehra seat.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) data reveals that the Trinamool Congress, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is leading in four assembly seats in West Bengal: Maniktala, Bagdah, Ranaghat Dakshin, and Raiganj. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Anniyur Siva is leading in Tamil Nadu’s Vikravandi assembly constituency.
In Himachal Pradesh, Congress candidates Kamlesh Thakur and Hardeep Singh Bawa are leading in Dehra and Nalagarh, respectively, while BJP’s Ashish Sharma is ahead in Hamirpur. Kamlesh Thakur leads by 7,860 votes against BJP’s Hoshiyar Singh in Dehra. In Hamirpur, Congress’ Pushpinder Verma trails BJP’s Ashish Sharma by 1,545 votes. In Nalagarh, Congress’ Hardeep Singh Bawa leads by 4,137 votes against BJP’s K L Thakur.
BJP’s ally, Janata Dal (United), is leading in the Rupauli seat in Bihar. This seat was previously held by Bima Bharti, who resigned from JD(U) and joined Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in March to contest the Lok Sabha election but was defeated by an independent candidate.
The bypolls are viewed as a critical test for the BJP, which secured 240 seats in the recent elections, falling short of the 272 majority mark and requiring support from allies in the NDA coalition to form a government. This contrasts with its majority wins in 2019 and 2014, where it secured 303 and 282 seats, respectively.
With support from key allies like N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which secured 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar respectively, the NDA coalition has managed to surpass the halfway mark.
