Bypoll results for 4 LS, 12 assembly seats out

Results for bypolls to four parliamentary constituencies - one each in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu - and 12 assembly seats spread across 10 states were announced on Sunday. Except for the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat and the Malappuram Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, where polling was held on April 6, bypolls in rest of the constituencies were conducted on April 17.

In Karnataka, the BJP won the Belgaum Lok Sabha and Basavakalyan assembly constituencies while the Congress was able to retain the Maski assembly seat. Mangala Suresh Angadi won the Belgaum Lok Sabha constituency by a margin of 5,240 votes against Congress’s Satish Jarkiholi. In Basavakalyan, BJP’S Sharanu Salagar defeated Congress’s Mala B Narayan Rao. In Maski, Congress candidate Basanagauda Turvihal defeated Prathapagouda Patil with a margin of 30,606 votes.

In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the ruling YSR Congress secured a thumping victory in the by-election to the Tirupati (SC) Lok Sabha constituency, trouncing the main opposition Telugu Desam Party by a record margin of over 270,000 votes.

In Madhya Pradesh, Congress candidate Ajay Tandon won the Damoh assembly bypoll against BJP’S Rahul Singh Lodhi.

Telangana’s Nagarjuna Sagar assembly seat, which went into by-election after sitting Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLA Nomula Narsimhaiah died last December, was retained by the ruling TRS. In Rajasthan, the Congress won the bypolls in Sahada and Sujangarh, while the BJP clinched Rajsamand.

In Tamil Nadu, Vijay Vasanth of the Congress was ahead of BJP leader and former union minister Pon Radhakrishnan in the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency. Abdussamad Samadani of the Indian Union Muslim League won the Malappuram Lok Sabha seat in Kerala defeating V P Sanu of the CPI-M.

In a boost to the BJP, the party’s candidate Autade Samadhan Mahadev won Maharashtra’s Pandharpur-mangalvedha assembly seat; another Nimisha Suthar won the by-election to the Morva Hadaf (ST) assembly constituency in Gujarat; and Mahesh Jeena beat his nearest rival Ganga Pancholi of the Congress in the by-election to the Salt assembly seat in Uttarakhand.

The ruling Mizo National Front suffered a defeat in the Serchhip assembly seat as archrival ZPM’S nominee Lalduhoma, whose disqualification necessitated the by-election, retained the seat by a margin of 2,950 votes. The JMM, which is in power in Jharkhand, won the Madhupur assembly seat.

The by-election in Pipili assembly seat in Odisha was adjourned following the death of Congress candidate Ajit Mangaraj due to Covid-19 on April 14. In Nagaland, only one candidate H Chuba Chang of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) had filed nomination for the bypoll to the Noksen assembly constituency and was elected unopposed, the Election Commission had said.