Gujarat bypolls: BJP wins all 6 seats in Gujarat by-polls, RJD wins in Maharajganj

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jun 5, 2013: In a big victory for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party has won all the six seats (two Lok Sabha seats and four Assembly seats) in the by-polls. This includes the Porbander seat which was contested by former Congressman and now BJP leader Vitthal Radadiya.


Hailing the victory as a big win for Modi, BJP leader Amit Shah said, "People have proved that Gujarat is a BJP bastion, all because of the developmental work carried out by BJP and Narendra Modi."

The by-polls were being considered as a litmus test for Congress as all six seats were held by it. Both the main political parties in the state, ruling BJP and opposition Congress had expressed confidence of winning majority of seats even though this by-polls did not enthuse the voters much.

For Porbandar and Banaskantha Lok Sabha seats, 30 and 37 per cent voting was registered respectively. However, for the assembly seats of Limbadi, Morva Hadaf, Dhoraji and Jetpur 62 per cent, 64 per cent, 33 per cent and 45 per cent voting was recorded.

In the state legislative Assembly of 182 members, at present BJP has 115 MLAs, Congress 57, Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) 2, Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) 2 and Independent and JD(U) has one member each member.

In Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Prabhunath Singh defeated Janata Dal United candidate PK Shahi by a huge 1.36 lakh. This came as a big blow for the Nitish Kumar government and marked the return of Lalu Prasad as a key player.

The election was very crucial for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The by-poll also tests how the JD(U)-BJP alliance fares on the ground after the recent public squabbles between Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar.

The main candidates were JD(U) leader and Bihar Education Minister PK Shahi, RJD’s Prabhunath Singh and Congress candidate Jitendra Swami, the son of former RJD MP Umashankar Singh whose death necessitated the by-poll.

In West Bengal’s Howrah seat, Prasun Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress defeated Communist Party of India Marxist’s Sridip Bhattacharya by over 27,000 votes. This was a litmus test for the Mamata government as the by-polls took place in the wake of the chit fund scandal.

Counting is also on in UP for the Handi constituency.