In a major blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jan Suraaj Party chief Prashant Kishor won the Bankipur assembly bypoll in Bihar on Monday, data shared by the Election Commission showed. Bankipur was a BJP bastion which the party had never lost since 1995. By-poll in the seat was necessitated after its national president Nitin Nabin vacated it. Kishor, who made his electoral debut, defeated his his rival, BJP’s Neeraj Kumar, by over 19,000 votes.
Besides Bihar’s Bankipur, counting of votes for assembly seats in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh were also held.
In Gujarat's Manjalpur assembly constituency, BJP's Satendrabhai Patel won and defeated Congress' Bhikhabhai Rabari by a margin of over 30,000 votes. In Madhya Pradesh's Datia, Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh won by a margin of over 6,000 votes.Bankipur by-election result
The Bankipur assembly by-election was necessitated following the elevation of Nabin to the Rajya Sabha, shortly after he assumed the role of BJP national president.
The contest is a three-cornered fight involving the BJP, Jan Suraaj Party and the RJD. Voting took place on July 30.
Datia by-election result
Congress nominee Ghanshyam Singh defeated BJP candidate Ashutosh Tiwari by over 6,000 votes. Voting in this seat was also held on July 30 during which a turnout of 71.44 per cent was recorded.
In the 2023 assembly elections, Congress candidate Rajendra Bharti defeated BJP leader and former state home minister Narottam Mishra by more than 7,500 votes. The seat later fell vacant after a Delhi court sentenced Bharti to three years in prison in a fraud case. He was later granted bail.
The BJP chose not to field Mishra in the by-election and instead gave the ticket to Tiwari. The decision sparked massive protests by Mishra's supporters.
Manjalpur by-election result
BJP's Satendrabhai Patel won and defeated Congress' Bhikhabhai Rabari by a margin of over 30,000 votes. The bypoll, held on July 30, was necessitated following the death of BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Yogesh Patel earlier that month. A voter turnout of 37.5 per cent was recorded across 260 polling stations.
In the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections, Yogesh Patel of the BJP won the seat with 1,20,133 votes. He defeated the Congress candidate, who secured 19,379 votes, by a comfortable margin.
