After the Gujarat Assembly Elections in December 2017, India has had 10 parliamentary and 21 Assembly bye-elections, spread over 15 states in which over 1.25 crore people have cast their votes for nearly 19 political parties.
Out of the 10 parliamentary seats, BJP has been able to win just two Lok Sabha seats in the bypolls.
The 10 Lok Sabha seats where bye-elections have happened are: Kairana (Uttar Pradesh), Palghar (Maharashtra), Bhandara-Gondiya (Maharashtra), Nagaland, Araria (Bihar), Phulpur (Uttar Pradesh), Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Ajmer (Rajasthan), Alwar (Rajasthan) and Uluberia (West Bengal).
The saffron party suffered a major setback after it faced defeat in Gorakhpur, which was Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s home turf, Phulpur – UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya’s constituency – and now Kairana.
The two Lok Sabha seats that the BJP won included the Palghar parliamentary seat in Maharashtra where the party got 2,72,782 votes out a total of 8,69,985 valid votes. The other seat was the lone seat of Nagaland that was won by the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), an ally of the BJP. The NDPP candidate won with a margin of over 1,50,000 votes.
Votes Polled During Assembly Bye-elections
There have been 20 Assembly bye-elections post Gujarat elections. The bye-elections have happened in the following seats:
- Noorpur (Uttar Pradesh)
- Shahkot (Punjab)
- Jokihat (Bihar)
- Gomia (Jharkhand)
- Silli (Jharkhand)
- Chengannur (Kerala)
- Palus Kadegaon (Maharashtra)
- Ampati (Meghalaya)
- Tharali (Uttarakhand)
- Maheshtala (West Bengal)
- Williamnagar (Meghalaya)
- Jehanabad (Bihar)
- Bhabua (Bihar)
- Mungaoli (Madhya Pradesh)
- Bijepur (Odisha)
- Kolaras (Madhya Pradesh)
- Noapara (West Bengal)
- Mandalgarh (Rajasthan)
- Sikandra (Uttar Pradesh)
- Pakke Kessang (Arunanchal Pradesh)
- RR Nagar (Karnataka)
(*Data compiled from the Election Commission of India website)
The Bharatiya Janata Party won four assembly seats out of these 20 seats. The BJP successfully bagged the Tharali seat of Uttarakhand, Bhabua in Bihar, Sikandra in Uttar Pradesh and Pakke Kessang in Arunanchal Pradesh.
The total votes polled in favour of the BJP in Tharali was 25,737 against 23,756 of the Congress. In Sikandra, the winning margin of the BJP against the Congress was over 50,000 votes, while in Bhabua the BJP secured 64,413 votes while the Congress got 49,547 votes.
Consolidated Vote Share
The consolidated vote share of the BJP in all the Lok Sabha and the Assembly seats has been 25.25 percent, while that of the Congress has been 15.71 percent.
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