BJP’S majority at risk after bypoll loss

NEW DELHI: BJP'S repeated losses in the by-polls have ascended the concern for the party's star faces - Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah. The saffron party has lost a total of eight Lok Sabha seats. The tag of ‘single largest party' is also at risk and is entirely reliant on its allies in the NDA to prove its majority in the lower house of 545 members.

Since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the losses in Ajmer and Alwar (Rajasthan), Gorakhpur and Phulpur (UP), Gurdaspur (Punjab), Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh) Kairana (Uttar Pradesh) and Bhandara-gondiya (Maharashtra) have come as a big blow to the incumbent party.

Taking into account the resignation of BS Yeddyurappa and Sriramulu, the two by-polls are still pending in the state of Karnataka, where the BJP too confronted a major face-off recently.

Meanwhile, political observers feel that Kairana result is the curtain-raiser of the resurgence show of the oppositions. The winner Tabassum Hassan of Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) was backed by the Samajwadi Party (SP). However, both of the other major stakeholders Congress and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) did not field candidates. At the same time, BJP failed to gain the sympathy votes for Mriganka Singh, daughter of Gujjar leader Hukum Singh who died in February this year, necessitated the bypoll. He had become infamous during his tenure for mooting the hypothesis that Hindus were being forced to migrate because of hooliganism perpetrated by Muslims.

Importantly, the Prime Minister strategically inaugurated the Delhi-meerut highway and held a rally in the neighbouring Baghpat a day before the by-polls. The BJP had put in all its weight behind its candidates. Despite that, the opposition won.

Furthermore, in the last six years, the region witnessed a major shift of Jat voters from BJP, after them reeling under agrarian distress. It also led the bond between Jats and Muslims. Hassan will now be the only Muslim representative from UP in the Lok Sabha. Hukum Singh had polled 5, 65,909 votes whereas the RLD, BSP and SP (which finished second) candidates together polled a little more than 5, 32,201 votes in 2014.

On the other hand, BJP citadel Palghar witnessed the parting of BJP and Shiv Sena this time, but BJP managed to retain its power. Sena finished with a close second. The ruling party also faced distress over the land acquisition in this part of Ahmadabad-mumbai Bullet train project which covers 28 villages here.

The Bhandara-gondiya seat fell vacant after BJP'S Nana Patole defected to the Congress, where the Congress-ncp alliance managed to seize the power, despite the BJP candidate Hemant Patel campaigned in the name of PM Modi and the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnaviz.

Apart from UP and Maharashtra, the saffron party is also reeling from the falling strength in both Bihar and Jharkhand where BJP is ruling party. In the only assembly seat in Bihar, Jokihat, the Janata Dal (United) candidate Murshid Alam, also backed by its ally BJP, lost to the Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Shahnawaz Alam and failed to retain its Muslim support. Shanawaz's brother Sarfaraz Alam, who was the MLA here, had resigned from the seat as the JD (U) MLA and won the Araria Lok Sabha by-poll as the RJD candidate.

Similarly, the JMM, an ally of the Congress, won both the Gomia and Silli assembly seats in Jharkhand. In Gomia, the JMM candidate Babita Devi won by a margin of 1,344 votes against AJSU candidate Lambodar Mahato, an ally of the BJP.

However, BJP vanguards do not feel that this will have any impact, especially in terms of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. They also feel that Shiv Sena will join NDA ahead of the general elections, a senior BJP leader said. At the same time, he also mentioned, “We should not consider Uttar Pradesh as one state. We should segregate into different parts and should highlight local prominent faces. This state has a major stake in government making in 2019. I feel BJP should also address the regional distress and should come up with a solution ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.”

“At the same time, I believe that the new schemes by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and his governance will help BJP to retain his power,” the senior BJP leader further added. RANCHI: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which was supported by Congress and other opposition parties, on Thursday retained both Silli and Gomia assembly seats in the by-election, ringing an alarm bell for the ruling BJP ahead of the general election next year.

In Gomia, JMM candidate Babita Devi, who bagged 60,551 votes, defeated AJSU (All Jharkhand Students Union) nominee Lambodar Mahto by 1,344 votes while the BJP'S Madhavlal Singh stood third with 42,037 votes, Chief Electoral Officer L Khiangte said. In Silli, JMM'S Seema Mahto defeated AJSU chief and former state Deputy Chief Minister Sudesh Mahto by 13,508 votes. KOHIMA: Nagaland's ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) candidate Tokheho Yepthomi on Thursday won the byelection to the state's lone lok Sabha constituency by 173,746 votes.

Yepthomi, the former Public Health Engineering minister who failed to retain his DimapurIII assembly constituency in the February 27 assembly polls, defeated C. Apok Jamir of the opposition Naga People's Front. State's Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said Yep-

Both the seats were with the JMM. A buoyed JMM chief Hemant Soren described it as victory of opposition unity and said “its heat is bound to reach Delhi.” The bypolls were necessitated following the conviction of JMM MLAS Yogendra Mahto and Amit Mahto in coal theft and assault cases respectively.

The successful outcome of the byelection, in which JMM got the support of Congress, RJD and JVM of former Chief Minister Babu Lal Marandi, has given a boost to the votaries of opposition unity against the BJP in the 2019 parliamentary polls.

While in Silli, the BJP and its ally AJSU were together, in Gomia seat they fielded their candidates against each other and at the end paid the price with a defeat. thomi secured 594,205 votes while Jamir, a former Rajya Sabha member and son of former Chief Minister and Odisha Governor S.C. Jamir polled 420,459 votes. A total of 3,991 voters have opted the none of the above (NOTA) option.

"It is not my victory but the victory of the people across Nagaland. They have reposed faith and confidence on me. I will make all efforts to raise the problem of the state with the central government," Yepthomi said. The by-election DEHRADUN: The BJP which suffered bypoll losses in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh today had the consolation of retaining the Tharali assembly seat in Uttarakhand by a slim margin.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Munni Devi Shah defeated Congress nominee Jeetram by 1,981 votes, Tharali's returning officer Parmanand Ram said at the end of the 15th round of counting.

Munni Devi Shah polled 25, 737 votes while Jeetram, a former MLA, got 23,756 votes, he said. Uttarakhand Kranti Dal's Kasvi Lal finished third with 1,365 votes followed by CPI(M) candidate Kunwar Ram who got 1,034 votes and independent Biri Ram who polled 587 votes, he said.

The BJP victory in the close fight takes its tally in the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly to 57.

The bypoll to the reserved (SC) seat was held on May 28 following the death of Maganlal Shah whose widow was fielded by the BJP. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat attributed the victory to the party workers. “Though every electoral victory is the result of a combination of factors, I would attribute it primarily to the hard work of party workers at the grassroots who were able to take the Prime Minister's vision to every household,” he said. “They were able to convey to the electorate what the PM thinks about the poor, his vision for them as reflected in schemes like Ujjwala or Jan Dhan Yojana,” Rawat said.

State Congress chief Pritam Singh said the party accepted the verdict of the people.

“We honour what the people of Tharali have decreed. We shall analyse the factors which led to our defeat but we are happy that we put up a good fight,” he told reporters.

The Tharali outcome is significant for the BJP as it was the first poll battle for the party in Uttarakhand after it registered a thumping win in the state assembly elections last year, winning 57 of the 70 seats.

The bye-election was also being seen as a referendum on the last 14 months of BJP rule in the state. BJP leaders in Gopeshwar said the victory was due to the party's organisational strength, unity, effective poll management and the women votes. was necessitated after sitting MP Neiphiu Rio resigned to become the state's Chief Minister. Rio is heading the People's Democratic Alliance government which comprised of Bharatiya Janata Party, National People's Party, Janata Dal-united and the lone Independent member. The alliance had supported Yephtomi in the by-poll while the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, which drew blank in the February 27 Nagaland Assembly elections, supported Jamir.