BJP and its allies win 7 out of 12 seats in Assembly by polls

BJP and its NDA allies today won seven out of 12 seats in the Assembly by-elections in eight states, making gains in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
BJP wrested the communally-sensitive and politically significant Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh from the ruling Samajwadi Party and Devadurga seat from ruling Congress in Karnataka.
It retained a seat each in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh while its allies Shiv Sena and RLSP also retained their seats in Maharashtra and Bihar.
Another BJP ally Akali Dal won the Khadoor Sahib seat in Punjab. It was earlied held by Congress, which chose not to contest this time round.

The win in Muzaffarnagar besides the victory in Ghaziabad mayoral poll are of particular significance for BJP which has suffered a series of electoral setbacks in UP after it swept the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll on the back of 'Modi wave'.
Western UP, of which Muzaffarnagar is a part, has seen the saffron party and its affiliates playing the Hindutva card to the hilt and attacking the Akhilesh Yadav government over its vote bank politics aimed allegedly at appeasing Muslims.
The results are a mixed bag for Congress as it could win only one of the three seats in Karnataka. Both the parties snatched the remaining two seats from each other.

However, Congress win in Muslim-dominated Deoband in Uttar Pradesh will come as a morale-booster for the party.