New Delhi: In the face of a united opposition, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a major blow in bypolls held on Monday in four Parliamentary constituencies and 10 legislative assembly seats across 10 states.

The parliamentary by-elections were held in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Kairana, Bhandara-Gondiya and Palghar in Maharashtra and Nagaland.

The assembly by-elections were held in Palus Kadegaon constituency (Maharashtra), Noorpur (UP), Jokihat (Bihar), Gomia and Silli (Jharkhand), Chengannur (Kerala), Ampati (Meghalaya), Shahkot (Punjab), Tharali (Uttarakhand) and Maheshtala (West Bengal).

BJP retained only one Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra and an assembly seat in Uttarakhand, losing two parliamentary seats and one assembly seat.

It lost Kairana — the most watched seat in UP — where the bypolls became a massive battle for pride in an election year leading up to the 2019 general elections.

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate Tabassum Hasan won against her BJP rival Mriganka Singh. Hasan was supported by Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP).

BJP, however, retained Tharali assembly seat in Uttarakhand with party nominee Munni Devi Shah defeating her Congress rival Jeetram by over 1,900 votes.

The saffron party’s Rajendra Gavit won Palghar Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra defeating ally Shiv Sena’s Shrinivas Wanaga. Bypoll to Palghar Parliamentary seat had fuelled tension between Sena and BJP.

After Sena gave ticket to the son of a sitting BJP lawmaker who died earlier this year, BJP fielded former Congress minister Rajendra Gavit, who recently joined the party.

In UP’s Noorpur, SP won the assembly bypoll. Noorpur bypoll was necessitated following the death of sitting BJP legislator Lokendra Singh Chauhan.

Reacting to BJP’s losses in UP, former state Chief Minister (CM) and SP President Akhilesh Yadav said this election was fought on the plank of Dalit (those belonging to lower castes) welfare.

“Despite the heat, the poor, women and farmers went to vote, I thank them. It is an answer to BJP’s betrayal on issues of sugarcane and poverty. This is the victory of Dalits and backward people,” Yadav said.

With BJP facing reverses in bypolls, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said “one has to take two steps backwards before a big leap.”

“For a massive leap, one always has to go two steps backwards. We are going to take a massive leap,” Singh said.

However, SP spokesperson Abdul Hafeez Gandhi said the results in Kairana and Noorpur made it clear that BJP failed to deliver what it promised.

“BJP’s policies have been anti-farmer and anti-people. One more important factor that has emerged after these results is that importance of regional parties cannot be ignored at any cost. The coalition of regional parties is here to stay,” Gandhi said.

On Thursday, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) wrested Jokihat assembly seat from BJP ally Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said the opposition’s unity helped his party in Bihar.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Madhukar won Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha bypolls in Maharashtra, defeating BJP’s Hemant Patle.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) won Gomia assembly bypoll with party candidate Babita Devi defeating BJP rival Maghavlal Singh by a thin margin of 1,344 votes. JMM also won Silli assembly bypoll in state.

Reacting to his party’s victory, JMM leader Hemant Soren said “the poor people and farmers in Jharkhand are not happy with the government. This election proved it.”

Congress candidate Hardev Singh Ladi won Shahkot legislative assembly seat in Punjab, defeating his nearest rival and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Naib Singh Kohar.

Kohar later alleged rigging of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and demanded a probe.

Trinamool Congress candidate Dulal Chandra Das won Maheshtala assembly bypoll, defeating BJP nominee Sujit Ghosh.

In Kerala, where Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Congress were at loggerheads, the Left party retained Chengannur seat. However, Congress managed to retain Karnataka’s Rajarajeshwarinagar seat.