Our Bureau
New Delhi
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor won the Bankipur bypoll in Bihar by over 19,000 votes, defeating his BJP rival, Neeraj Kumar. This win has ended the BJP’s three-decade hold over Bankipur, a seat it had controlled since 1995. The bypoll was held after former MLA and BJP national president Nitin Nabin was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April. After the victory mandate Kishor on Monday ruled out the possibility of joining any political alliance. It was the first election that NDA faced in Bihar after the BJP took to power in the state.
The loss proved to be a setback for the BJP since its national president Nitin Nabin and his late father Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha, were the prominent figures in this constituency of Bihar.
In Gujarat, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Satish Patel won the Manjalpur assembly bypoll on Monday, retaining the seat for the party after the completion of counting. He secured 55,481 votes and defeated Congress candidate Bhikhabhai Rabari by a margin of 30,630 votes. Rabari finished second with 24,851 votes.
The third bypoll was held in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia seat where Congress candidate Ghanshyam Singh won over 66,000 votes defeating BJP’s Ashutosh Tiwari after trailing in the initial rounds of counting. The by-election was necessitated after Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti lost his assembly membership following his conviction in a cheating case.
This election came immediately after extensive protests at Jantar Mantar against the NEET paper leak which led to the resignation of the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Reacting to the results, BJP national president Nitin Nabin said, “We accept the mandate received in today’s three assembly by-elections. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the people of Manjalpur assembly constituency in Gujarat for expressing their faith in the Bharatiya Janata Party. In Bankipur and Datia, we did not receive the expected mandate. We will conduct a thorough introspection of the election results in both these areas with complete seriousness, and with renewed energy and determination, we will continue to go among the people and work tirelessly to further strengthen their trust.”