Chennai/Bhopal: Ruling parties won all the six seats where by-elections were held in five states which also included Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
Jayalalitha won the R.K. Nagar seat in Chennai by a margin of 1,50,722 votes trouncing her nearest Communist Party of India (CPI) rival C Mahendran who forfeited his deposit like other contestants.
In a shot in the arm for the United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala ahead of assembly polls next year, K.S. Sabarinadhan of Congress won from Aruvikkara in Thiruvananthapuram by a margin of 10,128 votes defeating his nearest Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) rival M. Vijayakumar of the Left Democratic Front (LDF).
BJP retained Garoth Assembly seat in MP’s Mandsaur district albeit with a reduced margin than in the 2013 Assembly polls.
Chander Singh Sisodia defeated Congress’ Subhash Kumar Sojatia with a margin of 12,945 votes, an election officer said. The BJP had earlier won by a margin of 25,755 votes.
The Congress, however, termed BJP’s win with a lower margin than earlier as a “moral defeat” for the ruling party.
Communist Party of India — Marxist (CPM) won both the Pratapgarh (SC) and Surma (SC) assembly seats by a huge margin in Tripura.
Ramu Das defeated his nearest BJP rival Mousami Das by a margin of 17,326 votes in Pratapgarh constituency while Anjan Das beat his nearest BJP rival Asish Das in Surma by a margin of 15,309 votes. Significantly, BJP dislodged the Congress from the second position in both the seats.
In Meghalaya, Congress won the Chokpot seat by a margin of 2,550 votes with its candidate Blubell R Sangma defeating her nearest rival Philipole Marak of National People’s Party.
