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| Mixed bag for Congress in Assembly by-polls |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Aug 22, 2009, 00:57 IST |
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The Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh results came as a bitter pill, while the party has managed easy win in Tamil Nadu along with ally DMK
In the first litmus test after its sweeping victory in the general elections, the Congress-led UPA today received a mixed bag of results, winning nine of the 17 seats in the first series of Assembly by-polls spread over five states.
The results also include a humiliating defeat for the UPA leader in Karnataka, where it managed to win just one out of five seats that went to polls.
| RESULTS |
| State |
No. of seats |
Winners |
| Uttar Pradesh |
4 |
3 BSP, 1 RLD |
| West Bengal |
2 |
2 Trinamool Congress |
| Karnataka |
5 |
2 BJP, 2 JD(S) 1 Congress |
| Meghalaya |
1 |
Congress |
| Tamil Nadu |
5 |
3 DMK, 2 Congress |
But it was a cakewalk for the Congress and its ruling partner DMK in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu as the main opposition party — J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK — had decided to boycott the by-elections fearing manipulation of electronic voting machines, or EVMs, under the DMK rule. Out of the five seats in Tamil Nadu, DMK candidates won Cumbum, Burgur and Ilayankudi, while the Congress improved its tally with victory in Srivaikuntam and Thondamuthur.
In Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati’s ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got three seats, while Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (another opponent of the Congress) won the fourth seat. It was a welcome relief for Chief Minister Mayawati after her party’s dismal performance with just 21 seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
In West Bengal, the Opposition Trinamool Congress expectedly won the two seats, continuing the victory run of its alliance with the Congress.
None of the results, however, will change any government in the respective states but consolidate the position of the ruling parties, except in West Bengal.
For the Congress, the Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh results came as a bitter pill while it won one more seat in Meghalaya. In Karnataka, the party continued to face the drubbing: it managed to win just one (Govindarajanagar) seat, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) won two each. The Congress was holding four out of these five seats. The BJP got Kollegal and Chitapur (both reserved) while the JD-S wrested Chennapatna and retained Ramanagara. The BJP, however, faced embarrassment as the state Housing Minister V Somanna lost to the Congress in Govindarajanagar by a margin of 5,239 votes. But the BJP also managed to humiliate the Congress in Chitapur where Priyanka Kharge, son of Union Labour Minister M Mallikarjun Khage, lost by 1,606 votes.
Expressing satisfaction over the results, Mayawati harped on her “sarvjan hitai, sarvjan sukhai” policy, saying: “The impressive victory margin proves the hollowness of the Opposition propaganda ever since the last Lok Sabha elections.”
The Congress tried to find some consolation and claimed that in all four seats in UP, there is a “remarkable hike” in its vote share and found it as a “good sign for realising Rahul Gandhi’s mission 2012”.
In West Bengal too, the Congress leadership will be hesitant to rejoice Trinamool’s victory. Rather, the state leaders see this as consolidation of Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee’s popularity which might cost many more seats of the Congress in the next Assembly elections, scheduled in 2011.
“Already we don’t have any MP in the entire south Bengal. Now, we gave away these two seats — Bowbazar and Sealdah — to her. In the Assembly elections, this will surely increase the bargaining power of TC,” said a senior state Congress leader.
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