Nandigama Under TDP, TRS Gets Medak

Vijayawada:Giving the ruling party a boost, Telugu Desam Party's Tangirala Sowmya on Tuesday won the Nandigama Assembly bypoll in Andhra Pradesh by 74,827 votes.

Riding on the sympathy wave, Sowmya, a software engineer, got 99,748 votes, pushing her Congress rival Bodapati Babu Rao to a distant second with 24,921 votes in a straight contest in Krishna district

The main opposition YSR Congress Party had not fielded candidate after TDP requested other parties to make the election unanimous. The by-election was necessitated following the vacancy caused by the death of Sowmya's father due to a cardiac arrest days after he was elected in the May polls.

Talking to reporters, Sowmya attributed her victory to the leadership of TDP President and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and her late father's hard work and clean image.

"We can consider this victory as a gift of people on the Chandrababu Naidu government completing 100 days in office today and Vijayawada being declared as capital of Andhra Pradesh," she said. Though she expected to win, Sowmya said she did not expect the margin to be as high as about 75,000 votes

Pleding to live up to the expectations of the people, Sowmya said she would work for the development of Nandigama, situated around 50 kms from Vijayawada, with the help of state minister D Umamaheswara Rao and other leaders.

Medak, Telangana

The ruling TRS again asserted its supremacy in Medak Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana with its nominee K Prabhakar Reddy winning the bypoll with a thumping majority of 3,61,277 votes.

He polled 5,71,800 votes, pushing Congress' V Sunita Laxma Reddy (2,10,523) and BJP's T Jayaprakash Reddy (1,86,334) to second and third positions.

The seat was vacated by K Chandrasekhar Rao after he became Chief Minister. Rao had won with a margin of 3.97 lakh votes, the May elections.TRS maintained its lead from the first round which widened as the counting progressed.

Gujarat bypolls: BJP wins four assembly seats; Congress 2

Ruling BJP on Tuesday won four seats while the Congress bagged two out of the nine Assembly seats in Gujarat, where bypolls were held on September 13. On three other seats, where counting is underway, BJP is leading in two while Congress is ahead on one.

"Congress candidates have been declared elected in Deesa and Mangrol seats," Additional Chief Electoral officer A H Manek said. "BJP candidates have been declared elected in Maninagar, Tankara, Talaja and Matar," Manek said.

Maninagar was the seat on which Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerged victorious thrice as a MLA. On remaining three seats, Congress is leading in Khambhalia, while BJP is leading in Limkheda and Anand seats.

All the seats were earlier held by BJP and were vacated after their sitting MLAs were elected as MPs. The by-polls are also considered as the litmus test of new Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel's leadership.

The BJP had sought votes in the name of Modi and Patel has asked voters to gift 10 seats to him ahead of his 64th birthday. Modi will reach Ahmedabad this evening and will be present here on his birthday tomorrow.

Rajasthan

Congress candidate Bhajanlal Jatav won the Weir Assembly constituency by defeating BJP's Ganga Ram by a margin of 25108 votes. Jatav got 77305 votes while Ganga Ram got 52197 votes, according to ADM, Bharatpur, O P Jain.

In Surajgarh Assembly constituency, Congress candidate Shrawan Kumar defeated BJP nominee and former minister Digambar Singh by a margin of over 3200 votes. Kumar got 70527 votes while Singh got 67257 votes, Jhunjhunu Collector Arushi Malik said.

BJP made a strong comeback in the state, winning all 25 Lok Sabha seats and now lost in three of the four LS seats in the by-elections.Counting of votes began on Tuesday to three crucial Lok Sabha and 32 assembly constituencies spread across nine states where by-elections were held on September 13.

Uttar Pradesh

Ruling Samajwadi Party has won the Thakurdwara Assembly seat and was leading in eight others, while the BJP was ahead in two seats in Uttar Pradesh where bypolls were held for 11 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat.

SP supremo Mulayam Singh's grand nephew Tej Pratap was leading over his nearest rival BJP's Prem Singh Shakya in Mainpuri Lok Sabha. SP's Nawabjan won the Thakurdwara Assembly seat in Moradabad district by defeating BJP's Rajpal Singh by a margin of 27,023 votes.

In Lucknow, former BJP MP Lalji Tandon's son Ashutosh Tandon is leading.

The Assembly seats where bypolls were held include Saharanpur city, Bijnor, Thakurdwara, Noida, Nighasan Lucknow east, Hamirpur, Charkhari, Sirathu, Balha and Rohania, as also in Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat which was vacated by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

While BSP did not contest the bypoll, Congress and SP fielded candidates on all 11 Assembly seats, whereas BJP contested on 10 and its ally Apna Dal on one.Stakes are high for BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh after the saffron party's near-total sweep of the 80 seats in Lok Sabha polls just four months.

The Samajwadi Party will form the govt in UP again in 2017, we will get 300 seats: Rajendra Chaudhary (SP) on Bypoll trends.Today's by-election results, seen as yet another test of Narendra Modi government's popularity since it assumed power in May, are also important as the BJP is preparing for polls in Haryana and Maharashtra next month where it hopes to oust the Congress.

CPM wins Tripura assembly bypoll

CPM candidate Prabhat Chowdhury trounced his nearest INC candidate Mailafr Mog by 15,971 votes in the Manu (ST) assembly constituency of Tripura. While the CPM candidate secured 21,759 votes, the INC aspirant secured 5,788 votes, joint chief electoral officer Debasish Modak said.

The constituency fell vacant after former industries and commerce minister Jitendra Chowdhury was elected to the Lok Sabha.

Assam bypoll: AIDUF leading in two, BJP in 1

Opposition AIUDF is leadingin Jamunamukh and Lakhipur Assembly seats, while BJP is ahead in Silchar in Assam. In the AIUDF bastion Jamunamukh, party President Badruddin Ajmal's son Abdur Rahim Ajmal is leading over Congress' Bashir Uddin Laskar by 8000 votes, election office sources said.

In Lakhipur, AIUDF's Mukesh Pandey is leading by 2,000 votes over former Congress MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala's son Rajdeep Goala. In Silchar, Dilip Kumar Paul of BJP is ahead of Arun Dutta Majumdar of Congress by nearly 15,000 votes.

The by-election on September 13 was necessitated following the election of Silchar Congress MLA Sushmita Dev and Jamunamukh AIUDF MLA Mohammad Sirajuddin Ajmal to the Lok Sabha during the last general elections. The death of sitting Congress MLA Dinesh Prasad Goala necessitated the by-poll in Lakhipur.