Chandigarh, April 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) Twenty-three students from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Madhya Pradesh, who had been stranded in Punjab since the lockdown on March 24, were sent back to their hometown on Monday in a chartered bus, an official said.

They had come from Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh to their sister school in Chamkaur Sahib in Ropar district of Punjab on a student-exchange programme and got stuck due to the lockdown, Special Chief Secretary K.B.S. Sidhu, who is in-charge to monitor state-wide coronavirus cases, told IANS.

Deputy Commissioner Sonali Giri had tied up for their travel, security, food and route permissions, he added.

Incidentally, the Jawahar Vidyalaya in Ropar is being converted into a Covid Care Centre.

Source: IANS

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The lady living in Pothencode, in the capital city outskirts appeared live on Mathrubhumi TV channel and was crying that she has no other option but to commit suicide along with her autistic son and her mother.

"I came from Dubai and have now completed my prescribed isolation period, but we are now being shooed away by neighbours, shopkeepers. We have nothing to eat and we live in a rented house. Each time I venture out to buy some things, am being chased away. We now have nothing left and we are going to commit suicide, as we feel that's better than living like this," wailed the lady, who returned from Dubai.

But a considerate TV anchor Smrithi who was speaking to her live on the hourly news bulletin assured her of timely help and asking her to calm down and immediately connected to Thiruvananthapuram Mayor K. Sreekumar.

Soon Sreekumar and the wailing lady spoke to one another and the Mayor assured her, "you please cool down and I as the Mayor assure you, you will have no issues and all aspects will be taken care," said the Mayor.

Reacting to the incident, State Devasom Minister Kadakampally Surendran who hails from the state capital said that he will also ensure that the families issues are taken care.

Pothencode was in the news recently, when the second death in the state was recorded two days back and since then, the mofussil town came under heavy lockdown, making even the otherwise tough lockdown life, even tougher.

Source: IANS

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Panaji, March 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) Amid chaos and panic in Goa following failure of the state government to provide essential goods, including groceries, a petition has been filed before the Bombay High Court in Goa on Thursday demanding to know what steps have been taken by the state authorities to provide essential goods to the people, especially those who live below the poverty line.

The petition also said, that the action of the Goa government to shut down grocery stores, along with other essential services, was in contravention of the assurance given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that essential commodities and groceries would be made available during the 21-day lockdown.

"There was a hearing today and Justice Mahesh Sonak has directed the state Advocate General to place on record the government's management plan (for providing essential commodities) by Friday," D'Sa told reporters.

"The undersigned states that the villages in Goa also do not have the logistics, manpower in place to deliver grocery door to door. Therefore the undersigned moves this Court, for a direction to the state government to place on an affidavit all measures being taken to take care of the persons who are daily wagers, citizens below poverty line and the common man," the petition filed by a city lawyer Rohit Bras D'Sa states.

"The undersigned states, that even the basic requirement of the groceries are unavailable. The Chief Minister and other officials are only indulging in lip-service and there has been no organisation and statistics in place to provide the people door-to-door delivery of groceries," D'sa states, adding that the irony of the ground-situation is that while bank ATMS are open, none is able to access them on account of the curfew.

"The plight of the persons below the poverty line and daily wage workers is even more despicable as state government has not made any attempt to provide them the basic essential commodities. It was incumbent on the authorities to ensure that the logistics were in place before the curfew came into force," D'Sa also said.

Earlier on Thursday, amid the panic caused due to non-availability of essential goods and complete closure of all markets and grocery stores, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant called for a meeting of major grocery store and super market owners to work out a strategy for allowing people access to essential commodities.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Five months after its landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP on Thursday won 17 Assembly seats in the bypolls held in 51 Assembly constituencies across 17 states.

The Congress, which was decimated in the general elections in May, bagged 11 seats in the by-elections held on October 21.

In Uttar Pradesh, where by-elections were held for 11 Assembly seats, the BJP won 7, its ally Apna Dal got 1, and the Samajwadi Party won 3 seats.

The ruling BJP won the Gangoh, Iglas, Lucknow Cantt, Govind Nagar, Manikpur, Balha and Ghosi. The candidate of its ally Apna Dal won from Pratapgarh.

Samajwadi Party's Tazeen Fatma, a Rajya Sabha member and wife of senior party leader and Lok Sabha member Azam Khan, won from the Rampur seat, defeating BJP's Bharat Bhushan.

Samajwadi Party's Gaurav Kumar secured victory in Zaidpur seat, defeating BJP's Ambrish, and the party's Subhash Rai pipped the BSP's Chhaya Verma to the post in Jalalpur.

In Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal won the Simri-Bakhtiarpur and Belhar seats, the AIMIM's Qamrul Hoda won in Kishanganj and the ruling Janata Dal-United in the Nathnagar constituency. Independent Karnjeet Singh alias Vyas Singh won in Daraundha.

In Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, 6 seats were at stake, out of which the BJP bagged Kheralu, Lunawada and Amraiwadi while the Congress won the remaining 3 - Tharad, Bayad and Radhanpur, where its candidate Raghubhai Merajbhai Desai defeated Alpesh Thakor, who left the Congress to join the BJP.

In Assam, the BJP won the Ratabari, Rangapara and Sonari seats in Assam while the All India United Demoratic Front won the Jania seat.

The BJP won Martamrumtek (BL) and Gangtok (BL) in Sikkim while the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha secured the Poklok Kamrang seat.

The BJP secured victory from Himachal Pradesh's Dharamshala and Pachhad seats where it had fielded Vishal Nehria and Reena Kashyap, respectively, defeating an Independent and Congress candidate.

Independent candidate Chakat Aboh won from Khonsa West constituency in Arunachal Pradesh's defeating Independent candidate Azet Homtok by a margin of 1,887 votes.

The Congress secured victory in three of the four seats in Punjab - Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal won in Phagwara defeating the BJP's Rajesh Bagha, Indu Bala trumped the BJP's Jangi Lal Mahajan in Mukerian and Ramdinder Singh Awla defeated the Shiromani Akali Dal's Raj Singh in Jalalabad. However, the party faced defeat in the Dakha seat, where its Sandeep Singh Sandhu lost to Akali Dal's Manpreet Singh Ayali.

In Rajasthan, Congress's Rita Choudhary defeated BJP's Sushila Singra from Mandawa seat but the party faced defeat from the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party in Khinwsar seat where Narayan Beniwal defeated its Harendra Midha.

The Congress registered victory in Chhattisgarh's Chitrakot seat where Rajman Venjam defeated the BJP's Lachhuram Kashyap. It also won Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua constituency where it fielded Kantilal Bhuria against BJP's Bhanu Bhuria.

The Congress also won two of the five seats in Kerala - Vinod defeating Independent Manu Roy in Ernakulam and Shanimol Osman defeated Manu C. Pulickal of the CPI-M in Aroor - while its ally, the Indian Union Muslim League's M.C. Kamaruddin won the Manjeshwar seat, defeating the BJP's Raveesh Thanthri Kuntar.

The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist secured victory in Konni and Vattiyoorkavu seats, where its candidates K.U. Jenish Kumar and V.K.Prasanth defeated the Congress' P. Mohanraj and K. Mohankumar, respectively.

The United Democratic Party's Balajied Kupar Synrem won Meghalaya's Shella seat, defeating Independent Grace Mary Kharpuri while the Biju Janata Dal retained Odisha's Bijepur constituency with Rita Sahu defeating the BJP's Sanat Kumar Gartia.

Congress's A. Johnkumar defeated All India N.R. Congress's Bouvaneswarane with a margin of 7,170 votes in Puducherry's Kamaraj Nagar.

AIADMK's Muthamilselvan R. and Narayanan V. defeated DMK's Pugazhenthi N. in Vikravandi and Congress's Manoharan R. in Nanguneri seat, respectively, in Tamil Nadu.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi's Saidi Reddy Shanampudi defeated Congress's Nalamada Padmavathi Reddy with a margin of 42,485 votes in Telangana's Huzurnagar.

Source: IANS

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Shillong, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) United Democratic Party candidate Balajied Kupar Synrem won the by-election to the Shella Assembly seat in Meghalaya on Thursday.

Synrem, the eldest son of late former Assembly Speaker and UDP supremo Donkupar Roy Dkhar, defeated his nearest rival Grace Mary Kharpuri, an Independent, by 6,221 votes.

The by-election was necessitated by death of Roy on July 21.

Synrem secured 12,002 votes and Kharpuri, the lone wonam in the fray and an elected member of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council, bagged 5,781 votes.

As many as 188 voters opeted for the NOTA (None of the above) option. The voting on Monday saw 84.56 per cent of 29,542 electorate casting their votes.

Synrem also surpassed the cumulative winning margin of Roy over last seven terms from the Shella constituency.

The National People's Party, which is leading the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) coalition government, and the Hill State People's Democratic Party supported Synrem.

The UDP is a key partner of the ruling MDA coalition government.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the People's Democratic Front, other key partners in the MDA coalition government, had also fielded Joshua Warjri and Mosjo Rock F. Wanswett, respectively.

while Warjri polled 742 votes, Wanswett 4,327 votes. Congress nominee Batyngshai Laitmon Ryngnga secured 1,715 votes. Former HSPDP leader Komen Laitmon could get only 444 votes.

With this victory, the UDP has raised its seat to 7 in the 60-member House.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Five months after its landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP on Thursday won 16 Assembly seats and was leading in one in the bypolls held in 51 Assembly constituencies across 17 states.

The Congress, which was decimated in the general elections in May, bagged 11 seats in the by-elections held on October 21.

In Uttar Pradesh, where by-elections were held for 11 Assembly seats, the BJP won 7, its ally Apna Dal got 1, and the Samajwadi Party won 3 seats.

The ruling BJP won the Gangoh, Iglas, Lucknow Cantt, Govind Nagar, Manikpur, Balha and Ghosi. The candidate of its ally Apna Dal won from Pratapgarh.

Samajwadi Party's Tazeen Fatma, a Rajya Sabha member and wife of senior party leader and Lok Sabha member Azam Khan, won from the Rampur seat, defeating BJP's Bharat Bhushan.

Samajwadi Party's Gaurav Kumar secured victory in Zaidpur seat, defeating BJP's Ambrish, and the party's Subhash Rai pipped the BSP's Chhaya Verma to the post in Jalalpur.

In Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal won the Simri-Bakhtiarpur and Belhar seats, the AIMIM's Qamrul Hoda won in Kishanganj and the ruling Janata Dal-United in the Nathnagar constituency. Independent Karnjeet Singh alias Vyas Singh won in Daraundha.

In Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, 6 seats were at stake, out of which the BJP bagged Kheralu and Lunawada seats and was leading in Amraiwadi while the Congress won the remaining 3 - Tharad, Bayad and Radhanpur, where its candidate Raghubhai Merajbhai Desai defeated Alpesh Thakor, who left the Congress to join the BJP.

In Assam, the BJP won the Ratabari, Rangapara and Sonari seats in Assam while the All India United Demoratic Front won the Jania seat.

The BJP won Martamrumtek (BL) and Gangtok (BL) in Sikkim while the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha secured the Poklok Kamrang seat.

The BJP secured victory from Himachal Pradesh's Dharamshala and Pachhad seats where it had fielded Vishal Nehria and Reena Kashyap, respectively, defeating an Independent and Congress candidate.

Independent candidate Chakat Aboh won from Khonsa West constituency in Arunachal Pradesh's defeating Independent candidate Azet Homtok by a margin of 1,887 votes.

The Congress secured victory in three of the four seats in Punjab - Phagwara, Mukerian and Jalalabad - defeating two BJP and a Shiromani Akali Dal candidates, respectively. However, the party faced defeat in the Dakha seat to the Akali Dal.

In Rajasthan, Congress's Rita Choudhary defeated BJP's Sushila Singra from Mandawa seat but the party faced defeat from the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party in Khinwsar seat where Narayan Beniwal defeated its Harendra Midha.

The Congress registered victory in Chhattisgarh's Chitrakot seat where Rajman Venjam defeated the BJP's Lachhuram Kashyap. It also won Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua constituency where it fielded Kantilal Bhuria against BJP's Bhanu Bhuria.

The Congress also won two of the five seats in Kerala - Ernakulam and Aroor - while its ally, the Indian Union Muslim League won the Manjeshwar seat.

The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist secured victory in Konni and Vattiyoorkavu seats.

The United Democratic Party won Meghalaya's Shella seat while the Biju Janata Dal retained Odisha's Bijepur constituency with Rita Sahu defeating the BJP's Sanat Kumar Gartia.

Congress's A. Johnkumar defeated All India N.R. Congress's Bouvaneswarane with a margin of 7,170 votes in Puducherry's Kamaraj Nagar.

AIADMK's Muthamilselvan R. and Narayanan V. defeated DMK's Pugazhenthi N. in Vikravandi and Congress's Manoharan R. in Nanguneri seat, respectively, in Tamil Nadu.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi's Saidi Reddy Shanampudi defeated Congress's Nalamada Padmavathi Reddy with a margin of 42,485 votes in Telangana's Huzurnagar.

Source: IANS

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Samastipur, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Prince Raj of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) won the Samastipur Lok Sabha bypoll by a margin of 102,090 votes on Thursday.

The bypoll to the seat was necessitated after the death of LJP MP Ram Chandra Paswan, the younger brother of the party's founding president Ram Vilas Paswan and Prince Raj's father.

Ram Vilas Paswan thanked the people of Samastipur for showing their love towards Prince.

In a tweet he said, "The victory in Samastipur Lok Sabha bypoll is the result of lakhs of dedicated workers of NDA. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Sushil Modi and whole of NDA for the support."

It is expected that Prince might get some important post in the organisation.

Source: IANS

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Guwahati, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The BJP has retained three of the four Assembly seats in Assam, bypolls to which were held on October 21 while the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) won the fourth seat which was held by the Congress earlier.

While the BJP candidates won Ratabari, Rangapara and Sonari Assembly seats, the AIUDF led by perfume trader Moulana Badruddin Ajmal won the Jania seat in minority-dominated Barpeta district.

BJP's Bijoy Malakar defeated his nearest Congress rival Keshab Prasad Rajak in Ratabari constituency in Barak Valley. Malakar polled over 60 per cent votes while Rajak could poll little over 38 per cent votes.

In Rangapara, BJP's Rajen Borthakur polled over 66 per cent votes drubbing his nearest Congress candidate Kartik Kurmi. Similarly BJP's Nabanita Handique defeated Congress candidate in Sonari by polling over 54 per cent votes.

In Jania, AIUDF's Rafiqul Islam polled over 54 per cent votes while Congress candidate Shamsul Haque could poll only a little over 30 per cent votes. BJP's Towfiqur Rahman polled only 10 per cent of votes.

The by-elections to the four Assembly constituencies was necessitated after three BJP MLAs, Kripanath Mallah (Ratabari), Pallab Lochan Das (Rangapara) and Topon Kumar Gogoi (Sonari) were elected to the Lok Sabha.

Congress' sitting MLA from Jania Abdul Khaleq also got elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year, necessitating a by-election in the constituency.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Congress in Uttar Pradesh has doubled its vote percentage even though it failed to win a single seat in bypolls in 11 seats.

The Election Commission said that the Congress got 11.6 per cent of votes.

The party contested on all 11 seats but could not win one. Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi said "I am happy that vote percentage of Congress has improved."

The party candidates in Gangoh, Noman Masood, and Karishma Thakur in Govindnagar, came second.

Its candidate in Zaidpur, Tanuj Punia, Pratapgarh candidate Neeraj Tripathi, and Lucknow Cantt candidate Dilpreet Singh came third.

Party spokesperson, Rajiv Tyagi said that "This is because of Priyanka Gandhi, Congress is raising issues related to the people and the public has acknowledged the efforts of the party."

The Congress has raised many issues including the Sonbhadra killing of tribals. The party also led a campaign on the Chinmayanand case and Unnao rape survivor case. The aggressive stance pushed BJP on the backfoot, said Tyagi.

The UP Congress has just ended its three-day workshop in Rae Bareli. The party is devising a strategy to take on the BJP. Priyanka Gandhi has advised its office bearers to gear up for a street fight to counter the BJP government in the state.

Source: IANS

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Raipur, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Chhattisgarh's ruling Congress on Thursday won Scheduled Tribe reserved Chitrakot assembly seat in restive Bastar region and thus blanked out the BJP from tribal stronghold sprawling Bastar region which has a total of 12 assembly seats.

Congress candidate Rajman Benzam registered an impressive victory over former legislator Lachhuram Kashyap of the BJP by over 17,800 votes.

The BJP's tally in the state's 90-member state assembly has come down to 14 while the Congress number has surged to record 69 seats.

"I acknowledge the love and affection of people of Chitrakot", Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel remarked in his first reaction after the result was officially announced.

Visibly looking jubilant Baghel mocked the BJP and said, "finally I have the BJP-mukt (free) Bastar". He reiterated that his government would continue to work for the larger welfare of the people of the state.

The polling in Chitrakot was necessitated as sitting legislator of the Congress Deepak Baij resigned after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Bastar seat.

Chhattisgarh's former chief minister Raman Singh who was the star campaigner for the BJP in the by-poll, said in a statement, "Congress misused government machinery to win Chitrakot seat at any cost".

Source: IANS

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Bhopal, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Victory in the by-elections in the tribal belt of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh and Chitrakote in Chhattisgarh has given the Congress some reason to cheer after the humiliating show in the Lok Sabha election.

Kantilal Bhuria of Congress won the Jhabua ST seat defeating Bhanu Bhuria of BJP by over 27,000 votes and Rajman Benzam won the bypoll from the Naxal-affected Chitrakote constituency, reserved ST seat by 17,862 votes against Lachhuram Kashyap of the BJP.

Bhuria, former PCC chief and former Union minister sustained the lead right through the 25 rounds of counting. Bhanu Bhuria who headed the youth wing of the BJP fought gamely. Bhanu, however, said the Congress won the election with ample help from the administration. The Congress workers had done little to deserve any credit, especially after two successive defeats of the father and son duo in a span of six months.

Jhabua exposed the cracks in both the Congress and the BJP.

The Jyotiraditya Scindia faction which has been at odds with Kantilal Bhuria wanted a previous MLA Xavier Meda to be fielded at Jhabua. Former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh and Chief Minister Kamal Nath, however, insisted on Kantilal who had just lost the Lok Sabha elections to G.S. Damor in May. Damor had also defeated Kantilal Bhuria's son Vikrant in the Assembly elections in November last. Considering that it was strange that Congress should have insisted on Bhuria senior.

Scindia never campaigned in Jhabua through the past one month. The ruling faction got Meda to propose Bhuria's name as a candidate and campaign for him. The BJP's campaign also looked lacklustre and purposeless. The state BJP chief Rakesh Singh, former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the leader of the opposition in the Assembly Gopal Bhargava between them made nearly 20 trips to Jhabua. Bhargava kept making statements that forced the election commission to book him for provocative campaign.

Kantilal Bhura has won the Lok Sabha elections five times and has also been a Cabinet minister in Madhya Pradesh. So, why is the Congress overjoyed over his election as an MLA now? At the party level the factionalism seems to be one of the reasons.

Secondly, the party that was one seat short of touching the halfway mark in the Assembly has done that with Bhuria's win. At 115 seats the Congress just needs one member's support from outside for majority. There are four independents, two BSP and one Samajwadi Party member backing Kamal Nath's ministry.

The BJP which has 108 members will need some solid work to dislodge the MP government. There is talk about Bhuria also being handed the mantle of the PCC chief again. He had been the PCC chief from 2011 to 2013 before being forced to quit in the wake of the party's defeat in the Assembly elections in 2013.

He also lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election with the factionalism in the party at its peak. In any case he did not need to be elected as legislator to be the PCC chief. His appointment as PCC chief could widen the rift between the Scindia faction and the rest.

The ruling Congress' victory in Chitrakote Assembly bypoll in Chhattisgarh on Thursday, came less than a month after the Dantewada result. Congress candidate Devti Karma had won the by-poll in Dantewada on September 23 defeating BJP's Ojasvi Mandavi.

Benzam polled 62,097 votes while Kashyap secured 44,235 votes at Chitrakote. With this the BJP has been wiped out of the tribal divisions of Sarguja and Bastar. The party held all 12 seats till the previous Assembly elections.

The bypoll to Chitrakot was caused by the resignation of Congress MLA Deepak Bais who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bastar. The BJP had nurtured the tribal region of Bastar since the 1970s in its avatar as Jana Sangh.

Tribal leader Mohan Markam who has recently taken charge as the PCC chief said the Congress fought the elections with the right spirit backing its grass root level workers who had to convince the voters about many fallacies spread by the BJP during the past 15 years.

Last month the BJP had lost Dantewada Assembly bypoll to the Congress. It took BJP's strength in the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly to 14, while the ruling Congress' numbers went up to 69.

Source: IANS

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Ahmedabad, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Gujarat results on Thursday threw up a surprise, with the opposition Congress poised evenly with the ruling BJP in the six Assembly bypolls.

Alpesh Thakor, who quit the Congress to join BJP last month, was poised to lose his seat while his aide Dhavalsinh Zala was defeated from his constituency.

Turncoats Alpesh Thakor was set to lose the Radhanpur Assembly bypoll in Gujarat, while Zala lost the Bayad seat. Thakor had won the Radhanpur seat on a Congress ticket in 2017.

Earlier in the day, the Congress was leading on four seats while the BJP was ahead on two seats. The BJP had held four of the seats and the Congress two.

The Amraiwadi seat, which earlier in the day saw the Congress consistently ahead, witnessed the BJP making gains after the 17th round. BJP's Ajmalji Thakor won the Kheralu seat, defeating Congress' Thakor Babuji Ujamji by 29,091 votes.

"The credit for my victory goes to party workers," Thakor said after his victory on Kheralu. The Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda attacked the BJP, saying the ruling party "has failed on all fronts".

Prominent Congress leader Rajeev Satav thanked voters of Gujarat for their support. "Congress has won three out of six assembly seats," he said. He termed the win significant as Gujarat was the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

In the 2017 state elections, the Congress under Rahul Gandhi had given the BJP a tough fight, winning around 70 seats, to the BJP's around 100 seats.

"We accept decision of people," said Jitu Vaghani, state BJP chief, after the results.

In Tharad seat, the Congress' Rajput Gulabsinh Pirabhai, won defeating BJP's Patel Jivrajbhai Jagatbhai, with a margin of 6,372 votes.

In Bayad, Congress candidate Patel Jasubhai Shivabhai defeated Dhavalsinh Zala of BJP by 743 votes.

In Amraiwadi, BJP's Jagdish Ishwarbhai Patel was ahead of his Congress rival Patel Dharmendra Shantilal by over 5,000 votes. In Lunawada, the BJP's Jigneshkumar Sevak was ahead of the Congress' Gulabsinh Chauhan by over 13,000 votes.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel thanked the people of Kheralu seat area for electing BJP candidate Ajmalji Thakor. Nitin Patel was appointed party incharge for the seat located in Mahesana district, which he represents.

Gujarat BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said the party had also won two ward seats in Vadodara and Junagadh municipal corporation by-polls.

"We had 100 per cent result in 2014 and 2019. It is not necessary that every time we win 100 per cent seats only. After all, people are supreme. We had 3 seats, and we retained the number. We also increased our lead in Radhanpur and Bayad seats. We analyse result of each seat, whether we win or lose," he said.

"Out of 15 candidates fielded by BJP in municipality by-polls, 13 are victorious," he added.

Source: IANS

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Chandigarh, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) In the bypolls held in Punjab on October 21, the ruling Congress on Thursday won three seats -- Jalalabad, Mukerian and Phagwara -- while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) emerged victorious in Dakha.

In Dakha, Congress candidate Sandeep Sandhu, a confidant of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, lost to Akali Dal's Manpreet Singh Ayali by 14,672 votes.

In Jalalabad, which is considered an Akali bastion, Congress candidate Raminder Awla defeated SAD nominee Raj Singh Dibipura by a margin of 16,663 votes.

Congress' Indu Bala won from Mukerian by defeating BJP nominee Jangi Lal Mahajan by a margin of 3,440 votes.

In Phagwara, Congress nominee Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal won over BJP nominee Rajesh Bagha by a comfortable margin of 26,116 votes.

The Jalalabad seat was vacated by SAD President Sukhbir Badal, while the Dakha seat was vacated by the Aam Aadmi Party's H.S. Phoolka.

BJP's Som Parkash vacated the Phagwara seat, while Mukerian went to the polls following the demise of sitting Congress MLA Rajnish Babbi.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hailed the Congress victories, particularly in Sukhbir Badal's self-proclaimed stronghold of Jalalabad, saying it was a total rejection of the negative agenda of the Akalis, who continued to indulge in petty politicking in the wild hope of regaining the confidence of the people.

Source: IANS

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Chennai/Puducherry, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The ruling parties in Tamil Nadu - AIADMK - and Puducherry - Congress - emerged victors in the Assembly bypolls held on October 21.

The AIADMK candidates won the Vikravandi and Nanguneri Assembly seats while Congress party won the Kamaraj Nagar seat in Puducherry.

AIADMK's R. Muthamilselvan won from Vikravandi, polling 113,428 votes while his DMK rival N. Pugazhenthi had polled 68,646 votes.

In Nanguneri, AIADMK candidate V.Narayanan polled 94,802 votes while his Congress rival Ruby R. Manohar had polled 61,991 votes.

The bypoll in Vikravandi was necessitated following the death of DMK legislator K. Rathamani in June, while the Nanguneri seat fell vacant after Congress legislator H. Vasantha Kumar got elected to the Lok Sabha and resigned.

A total of 35 candidates were in the fray in the two seats.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister K.Palaniswami said the alliance led by the DMK won the Lok Sabha elections because of their "false promises". "But now the people have realised that and have voted for the AIADMK."

This victory is a forerunner for the next Assembly elections for the ruling combine, he added.

The poll reversal is a setback for the DMK and Congress as they lost the seats held by them. This defeat comes close on the heels of the DMK-led alliance winning 38 Lok Sabha seats out of 39 in Tamil Nadu in the general elections held in April.

In Puducherry, the Congress retained the Kamaraj Nagar Assembly seat.

Congress' A. John Kumar won the polls with 14,782 votes, defeating his nearest rival and AINRC party nominee S. Bhuvaneswarane, who managed 7,611 votes.

The seat fell vacant after Congress legislator V. Vaithilingam was elected to the Lok Sabha in April this year.

Source: IANS

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Jaipur, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Congress' Rita Chaudhary on Thursday registered a huge victory in the Mandava bypoll trouncing her BJP rival Sushila Seegda by a margin of 33,704 votes, Election Commission officials said here.

On the other hand, BJP alliance RLP's Narayan Beniwal won the Khinvsar seat against his Congress rival Hirendra Mirdha.

Speaking to media, Rita Chaudhary said, "The warm blessings, love and regard of people of Mandava helped me register win here," adding that workers' hard work helped in attaining this huge victory.

She also gave credit for her victory to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Meanwhile, Narayan Beniwal, leading in the fray, said that people gave a befitting reply to Congress in Khinvsar and gave due credit to people for his victory. "There are many unresolved issues of farmers which we need to fight for," he added.

Chief Minister Gehlot in his tweet congratulated Chaudhary saying, "Congratulations to Rita Chowdhary for making a win in Mandava by-elections with a huge difference. We all contested Khinvsar election unitedly and strongly. While in Lok Sabha elections, the winning margin was 55,000 from this seat, it has been reduced to 4,630 only after five months only which is more like a victory for us," he said.

However, BJP state President Satish Poonia said that Congress misused government machinery to influence voters. "Meanwhile, our focus is 2023 elections, however, we shall look into issues on Mandava seat."

The Assembly bypolls on these two seats were necessitated as the two MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha.

While Narendra Kumar Khinchad from the BJP won as MP from Jhunjunu leaving the Mandava seat vacant, Hanuman Beniwal from the RLP (the party in alliance with BJP) won Lok Sabha polls from Nagaur leaving the Khinvsar seat vacant.

Source: IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The results of the two state Assemblies - Maharashtra and Haryana, that went to polls on Monday, clearly indicate that its a setback for the BJP, said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Thursday.

"The BJP has suffered a setback from its often projected statement of one party rule. This has not happened in Maharashtra and Haryana as the results indicate. Elections to the two states took place a few months after the Lok Sabha polls and it is not according to the BJP's expectations," said Vijayan.

Vijayan was speaking to the media after all the five assembly bypoll results held in Kerala were out. The Left managed to wrest two seats from the Congress.

"The UDF is becoming insignificant as we look into the results which include the Pala assembly seat that we wrested last month from the UDF. In all six seats that went to the polls including Pala, we won three. Looking at it, after three years of our governance, these victories show that people have given their full support to us, as our base has grown. The BJP's divisive tactics has also been rejected outright by the people, giving a clear indication that in Kerala there is no place for communal divide," said Vijayan.

He thanked the voters for giving the LDF a resolute win.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Congress is up in arms over its candidate Noman Masood being declared defeated in the last round in the bypoll to the Gangoh Assembly constituency.

UP Congress leaders sat on dharna at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Lucknow to protest against this 'malpractice'.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted, "The BJP is so full of arrogance that its minister is trying to change the people's verdict by driving our winning candidate out of the counting centre. District Magistrate was called five times on the phone to reduce the lead of our candidate. This is an insult to democracy and the UP Congress will strongly fight against this. The Election Commission must get this probed impartially."

Noman Masood had been leading the vote count since morning, but as the last round neared, he, his agents and mediapersons were asked to leave the counting area.

Later, the Returning Officer declared BJP's Keerat Singh elected.

Source: IANS

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Bhubaneswar, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Rita Sahu clinched victory in the Bijepur Assembly bypoll in Odisha's Bargarh district by a record margin of 97,990 votes on Thursday.

She also broke records by getting the highest ever votes in an Assembly election in the state.

Rita Sahu secured 1,35,957 votes while her nearest rival Sanat Gartia of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 37, 967 votes and the Congress candidate managed to get only 5873 votes, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sushil Kumar Lohani.

"I am very happy that the people blessed me with such huge number. I would like to thank the people and the Chief Minister for having faith in me," said an elated Rita Sahu.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik spoke to Sahu over the phone and congratulated her for her historic win.

The previous highest margin of 94,555 was by Bishwa Bhushan Harichandan in the 2000 Assembly elections, said sources.

In the April 2019 Assembly elections, BJD's Soumya Ranjan Patnaik had won from Khandapara Assembly seat by a margin of 81,430 votes,.

In the last Assembly polls at Bijepur, Naveen Patnaik had won with a margin of 57,122 votes.

The bypoll in Bijepur, which was held on October 21, was necessitated after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik vacated the seat and retained Hinjli in Ganjam district after winning from two seats in the May 2019 Assembly elections.

Source: IANS

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Chandigarh, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) In the bypolls held in Punjab on October 21, the ruling Congress has won the Jalalabad seat and is set to win in Phagwara, while the Shiromani Akali Dal has emerged victorious in Dakha.

As per the latest counting trends, the Congress is leading in Phagwara and Mukerian, but its candidate Sandeep Sandu, a confidant of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, lost to the Akali Dal candidate from Dakha.

The Jalalabad seat was vacated by Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Badal, while the Dakha seat was vacated by the Aam Aadmi Party's H.S. Phoolka.

BJP's Som Parkash vacated the Phagwara seat, while Mukerian went to the polls following the demise of sitting Congress MLA Rajnish Babbi.

Source: IANS

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Chandigarh, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which emerged as kingmaker in the Haryana Assembly elections on Thursday, refused to open its cards as the Congress courted it to form government in the state where the polls have thrown up a hung House.

JJP leader Dushyant Singh Chautala said he has called a meeting of the party executive at 11 a.m. on Friday in Delhi to discuss the party's strategy. His comments came amid reports that he was insisting on the chief minister's post as a condition for a post-poll tie-up.

Latest trends showed that no party was in a position to cross the half-way mark in the 90-member Haryana Assembly.

Newcomer Jannayak Janata Dal (JJP) was leading in 9 constituencies and may possibly play the kingmaker, along with Independents, who were leading in 6 Assembly segments.

"I believe the key to the new government is in the hands of the JJP," said Dushyant Chautala earlier in the day as counting trends indicated rapid gains for the Congress, with the BJP not even likely to cross the halfway mark.

Dushyant Chautala is the great grandson of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal and grandson of jailed INLD leader O.P. Chautala. JJP's party symbol incidentally is the "Key".

The JJP, which is less than a year old, emerged from a split in the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) after an infighting among the Chautala clan.

Dushyant, who was MP in 2014, formed the new party with his brother Digvijay Chautala.

Source: IANS

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Bhopal, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Congress candidate has extended his lead to 9,000 votes over his nearest BJP rival in the Jhabua Assembly constituency bypoll in Madhya Pradesh, poll officials said on Thursday.

Election Commission officials said that Congress' Kantilal Bhuria (40,084 votes) emerged further ahead of BJP's Bhanu Bhuria (31,135 votes) after the 10th round of counting.

There was excitement in the Congress camp as its candidate surged ahead of his BJP contender.

The officials said the counting would be completed in 26 rounds.

Source: IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) CPI-M candidate and Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V.K. Prasanth on Thursday won the prestigious Vatiyoorkavu Assembly constituency in Kerala by a margin of 14,251 votes, poll officials said.

"The victory has been possible due to the work of the Pinarayi Vijayan government and what really mattered here was the candidate," said Prasanth.

The bypoll to the Vatiyoorkavu constituency was necessitated after incumbent legislator K. Muraleedharan, son of late former Congress Chief Minister K. Karunakaran, vacated the seat after he won the Vadakara Lok Sabha seat earlier in 2019.

The BJP, which finished in second place in Vatiyoorkavu in the last two polls, was pushed to third place, while the Congress came second.

Source: IANS

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Patna, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Counting of votes was underway for one Lok Sabha and five Assembly seats in Bihar on Thursday.

Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) Prince Singh is leading in the Samastipur Lok Sabha seat.

According to the latest trends, the NDA is leading in two of the five Assembly seats -- Simri Bakhtiyarpur and Nathnagar.

The RJD is leading in Belhar and in Kishenganj the BJP candidiate Sweety Singh is trailing behind the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate Kamrul Hoda.

In Daraundha Assembly seat Independent candidate Karanjit Singh is leading.

A total of 51 candidates are in the fray, out of which only six are women.

The bypolls are being viewed as a precursor to next year's Assembly election in the state.

Source: IANS

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Bhopal, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Congress candidate was narrowly leading on Thursday against his BJP rival in the Jhabua Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh, according to the initial trends in the counting of votes for the by-election held on Monday.

Election Commission officials said that Congress' Kantilal Bhuria (12,583 votes) held a slight edge over the BJP's Bhanu Bhuria (11,299 votes) after the third round of counting.

The officials said the counting would be completed in 26 rounds.

Source: IANS

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Shimla, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The ruling BJP won the Dharamsala seat, while it is on its way to retain the Pachhad seat in Himachal Pradesh where bypolls were held on October 21, election officials said on Thursday.

BJP candidate Vishal Nehriya won Dharamsala by a margin of 6,673 votes. He defeated his nearest rival Rakesh Kumar, an independent candidate. Congress candidate Vijay Inder Karan was in third place.

In Pachhad, Reena Kashyap of the BJP is leading by 1,543 votes over her nearest rival Gangu Ram Musafir of the Congress after the first round of counting.

Nearly 68 per cent of the 1,56,624 voters exercised their franchise on Monday for the by-elections.

The elections were necessitated as Kishan Kapoor and Suresh Kashyap resigned from their respective seats as they were elected to the Lok Sabha.

The BJP has 44 seats in the 68-member state Assembly.

Source: IANS

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Chennai/Puducherry, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The ruling Congress in Puducherry has retained the Kamaraj Nagar Assembly seat by winning the bypoll held on October 21.

Congress' A. John Kumar won the polls with 14,782 votes, defeating his nearest rival and AINRC party nominee S. Bhuvaneswarane, who managed 7,611 votes.

The seat fell vacant after Congress legislator V. Vaithilingam was elected to the Lok Sabha in April this year.

Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu, the ruling AIADMK was leading in the Vikravandi and Nanguneri Assembly seats where bypolls were held on October 21.

The bypoll in Vikravandi was necessitated following the death of DMK legislator K. Rathamani in June, while the Nanguneri seat fell vacant after Congress legislator H. Vasantha Kumar got elected to the Lok Sabha and resigned.

A total of 35 candidates are in the fray in the two seats.

In Vikravandi, 23 candidates are in the fray while the main fight is between ruling AIADMK's R. Muthamilselvan and DMK's N. Pugazhenthi.

In Nanguneri, 12 candidates are in the contest though the main fight is between AIADMK's V. Narayanan and Congress candidate Ruby R. Manohar.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in six of the 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where bypolls were held on October 21.

The BJP is leading in Lucknow Cantt, Manikpur, Balha, Govind Nagar, Ghosi and in Pratapgarh where its ally, the Apna Dal candidate is leading.

The biggest surprise at this hour is that the Congress candidate Noman Masood is leading in Gangoh with a comfortable margin.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) is leading in Rampur where Tanzeen Fatima, wife of SP MP Azam Khan, is the candidate.

The Samajwadi Party is also leading in Zaidpur with a narrow margin.

The Bahujan Samajwadi Party is leading in Iglas and Jalalpur.

Source: IANS

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Patna, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Counting of votes was underway for one Lok Sabha and five Assembly seats in Bihar on Thursday.

Lok Janshakti Party's (LJP) Prince Singh is leading in the Samastipur Lok Sabha seat.

The five Assembly seats that went to polls on October 21 were Kishenganj, Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Daraundha, Nathnagar amd Belhar.

A total of 51 candidates are in the fray, out of which only six are women.

The bypolls are being viewed as a precursor to next year's Assembly election in the state.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Early leads in counting of results of bye-elections in Uttar Pradesh show that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is leading in three seats, Samajwadi Party in two seats, and the Bahujan Samaj Party and Apna Dal each in one.

The BJP is leading in Lucknow Cantt, Ghosi and Balha seats while Samajwadi Party is ahead in Rampur and Zaidpur seats.

The BSP is leading in Iglas and the Apna Dal in Pratapgarh.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was all set for celebrations as it was confident of winning maximum seats in the by-elections to the 11 Assembly constituencies, counting for which was underway on Thursday.

"We are going to win all 11 seats," said Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya.

The BJP is contesting 10 seats, having left one (Pratapgarh) for its ally Apna Dal.

The party has an edge in the by-elections that have witnessed a four-cornered contest.

For the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, the results were a matter of prestige. Both the parties held one seat each and retaining their constituencies was a major challenge for them.

The Congress has nothing to lose in the by-elections since it did not have even a single seat where by-elections were held.

The by-elections were held in Gangoh, Rampur, Iglas (SC), Lucknow Cantonment, Govind Nagar, Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur (SC), Jalalpur, Balha (SC), and Ghosi.

All eyes will be on the Rampur Assembly seat which is seeing a straight fight between BJP's Bharat Bhushan and Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan's wife Tanzim Fatima. Azam Khan has been slapped with several criminal and land grabbing cases.

According to the state's Chief Electoral Officer, as many as 109 candidates are in the fray.

The maximum number of candidates (13) are from Lucknow Cantonment and the Jalalpur Assembly constituencies, followed by 11 each in Ghosi, Gangoh, Pratapgarh, and Balha. Nine candidates each are in the fray in Govind Nagar and Manikpur, while seven candidates are contesting from Rampur, Iglas and Zaidpur.

The by-elections were necessitated after the legislators were elected to the Lok Sabha and one member, Phagu Chauhan, resigned after he was appointed Governor of Bihar.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Early leads in counting of results of bye-elections in Uttar Pradesh show that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is leading in three seats, Samajwadi Party in two seats, and the Bahujan Samaj Party and Apna Dal each in one.

The BJP is leading in Lucknow Cantt, Ghosi and Balha seats while Samajwadi Party is ahead in Rampur and Zaidpur seats.

The BSP is leading in Iglas and the Apna Dal in Pratapgarh.

Source: IANS

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Hyderabad, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has taken initial lead in the bye-elections to Huzurnagar Assembly constituency, where the counting of votes began on Thursday.

S. Saidi Reddy of TRS established early lead of 2,476 votes in the first round over his nearest rival Padmavathi Reddy of opposition Congress party.

Election Commission officials said there will be a total of 22 rounds of counting. They have arranged 14 tables for the counting process, which is likely to be completed by 1 p.m.

The constituency, with over 2.36 lakh voters, had recorded 84.75 per cent polling in the bye-election held on October 21.

A total of 28 candidates were in the fray in the bypoll, necessitated by the resignation of state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy following his election to Lok Sabha from Nalgonda constituency in the recent polls.

The Congress Party fielded Uttam Kumar Reddy's wife Padmavathi Reddy. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) also fielded their candidates in the first bye-election since TRS retained power in December 2018.

In 2018, Uttam Kumar Reddy had retained Huzurnagar seat by defeating Saidi Reddy of TRS with a margin of 7,466 votes.

Source: IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Counting of votes to the five Assembly constituencies was underway, which began at 8 a.m. and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) was leading in four and the CPI-M in one.

In the Vatiyoorkavu Assembly seat in the state capital, young CPI-M candidate and Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V.K. Prasanth was leading by a slender margin of 226 votes against former Congress Legislator K. Mohankumar.

The Konni Assembly seat is also witnessing an intense fight between Congress candidate P. Mohanraj and CPI-M candidate K.U. Jenish. Mohanraj is leading by 540 votes.

At Aroor, which is the only sitting seat of the Left, its CPI-M candidate Manu C. Pulickal is trailing by 265 votes against Congress leader Shanimol Usman.

On the expected lines, at Ernakulam, Congress candidate T.J. Vinod is leading by 365 votes against Left supported independent candidate Manu Roy.

And, in Manjeswaram, the Indian Union Muslim League candidate M.C. Kamarudheen is racing ahead with a lead of 1,181 votes.

Source: IANS

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Jaipur, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Counting of votes in Rajasthan has started on Thursday on two seats, Mandava and Khinvsar, where bypolls were held on October 21.

A total of 69.62 per cent voting was reported in Mandava on Monday till 6 p.m., while Khinvsar recorded 62.61 per cent polling.

Mandava had 259 voting centres and 266 polling booths were in Khinvsar.

In Mandava, there is a clash between the two women candidates with Congress' Rita Chaudhary being fielded against BJP's Sushila Seegda, while in Khinvsar, it is the BJP alliance partner RLP's Narayan Beniwal fighting against Congress' veteran leader Harendra Mirdha.

The Assembly bypolls on these two seats were necessitated as the respected MLAs of these two seats were elected to the Lok Sabha.

While Narendra Kumar khinchad from the BJP won as MP from Jhunjunu leaving the Mandava seat vacant, Hanuman Beniwal from the RLP (the party in alliance with BJP) won Lok Sabha polls from Nagaur leaving the Khinvsar seat vacant.

These Assembly bypolls are a litmus test for the Congress, which had formed government in the state in December 2018. The party will give a report card to the party on October 24 when the results of these elections will be declared.

Also, the elections stand crucial for the BJP as the party appointed a new state president Satish Poonia, who has been campaigning hard for these two seats to register first victory after his appointment.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was all set for celebrations as it was confident of winning maximum seats in the by-elections to Uttar Pradesh's 11 Assembly constituencies, counting for which was underway on Thursday.

"We are going to win all 11 seats," said Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya.

The BJP is contesting 10 seats, having left one (Pratapgarh) for its ally Apna Dal.

The party has an edge in the by-elections that have witnessed a four-cornered contest.

For the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, the results were a matter of prestige. Both the parties held one seat each and retaining their constituencies was a major challenge for them.

The Congress has nothing to lose in the by-elections since it did not have even a single seat where by-elections were held.

The by-elections were held in Gangoh, Rampur, Iglas (SC), Lucknow Cantonment, Govind Nagar, Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur (SC), Jalalpur, Balha (SC), and Ghosi.

According to the state's Chief Electoral Officer, as many as 109 candidates are in fray.

The maximum number of candidates (13) are from Lucknow Cantonment and the Jalalpur Assembly constituencies, followed by 11 each in Ghosi, Gangoh, Pratapgarh, and Balha. Nine candidates each are in the fray in Govind Nagar and Manikpur, while seven candidates are contesting from Rampur, Iglas and Zaidpur.

The by-elections were necessitated after the legislators were elected to the Lok Sabha and one member, Phagu Chauhan, resigned after he was appointed Governor of Bihar.

Source: IANS

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Shimla, Oct 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Vote count for two Assembly seats of Himachal Pradesh began on Thursday, election officials said.

Nearly 68 per cent of the 156,624 voters exercised their franchise on Monday for the by-elections to the Dharamsala and Pachhad seats in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state.

The elections were necessitated as Kishan Kapoor and Suresh Kashyap resigned from their respective seats as they were elected to the Lok Sabha.

In the Dharamsala and Pachhad seats, the polling percentage was 65.39 and 72 per cent, respectively.

Greenhorns Reena Kashyap and Vishal Nehria were the BJP candidates from Pachhad and Dharamsala seats, respectively.

The Congress has fielded former Speaker and seven-time legislator Gangu Ram from Pachhad, and young leader from the Gaddi community, Vijay Inder Karan from Dharamsala.

Dayal Pyari, a BJP rebel contesting as Independent, made the contest triangular in Pachhad.

The main contest is between the BJP and Congress in Dharamsala.

The BJP has 44 seats in the 68-member state Assembly.

Source: IANS

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