New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a setback in bypolls to Assembly constituencies, losing in 7 of the 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh and losing in three of the four seats in Rajasthan.
Congress wrested three Assembly seats in Gujarat BJP, which managed to retain six plus Lok Sabha seat to be held by the polls on 13 September.
The Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP party conceded defeat in bypolls and said it would review the reasons behind it. "The responsibility of defeat is mine and my team. Reasons behind the defeat will be reviewed. Has given us a lesson in the Vidhan Sabha polls," said BJP state president Laxmi Kant Bajpai.
The Samajwadi Party (SP), which has faced criticism over poor law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, was leading in 9 seats in politically important state of India. This is the second setback for the BJP in bypolls to Assembly constituencies; beat the game after a close race in Bihar's new alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal United winning 6 of the 10 seats (BJP won 4).
While the SP won Bijnor, Thakurdwara, Nighasan, Hamirpur, Charkhari, Sirathu, Balha, the BJP won Saharanpur (seat of the city), said an official spokesman here today.
The three Lok Sabha constituencies where bypolls were held voted for status quo with the BJP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi SP (TRS) retain Vadodara, Mainpuri and Medak seats respectively.
After a complete sweep in the May Lok Sabha, where the BJP had won all 26 seats in Gujarat, the party lost seats Dessa, and Khambalia mangrol Congress. The BJP managed to retain Maninagar, Tankara, Talaja, Anand, Kheda and Vadodara mounting Limkheda and Lok Sabha seats. In Vadodara, the seat vacated by the prime minister Narendra Modi, who opted to retain Varanasi, BJP candidate Ranjanben Bhatt defeated his Congress rival Narendra Rawat for over 3.29 lakh votes.
Surveys-by were seen as a test of the leadership's chosen successor Modi, Anandiben Patel, under which the party could not replicate his spectacular performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
Of the 33 assembly constituencies that went to the polls, 24 were carried out by the BJP and one each of its allies Apna Dal and Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
"I am very grateful to the people. Verdict is a lesson to the forces that want to divide communities in the state. People have not favored the politics of division," said Akhilesh Yadav, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which together send 120 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha are crucial for the BJP electoral calculations that aims to strengthen its presence in these Hindi-speaking states. The National led by the BJP (NDA) Democratic Alliance won a total of 104 parliamentary seats in both states combined in the general election less than four months ago.
To be sure, analysts say that people vote differently in the assembly and parliamentary elections; Also added that governments feel they have a significant advantage in assembly bypolls groups.
I am grateful to the people for their support. This is a phenomenal success for the Congress party in Rajasthan. It's a great effort by Congress party workers and I have to give credit to everyone, especially young people, "said Sachin Pilot, Congress senior leader.
The BJP still has 163 seats, a clear majority in the assembly of 200 seats in Rajasthan. In Uttar Pradesh, the CND previously held all 11 seats that went to bypolls on Saturday.
