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Congress stuns BJD-BJP in Orissa

The Congress made impressive inroads in Orissa, bagging three of the five seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party captured three in Uttar Pradesh but suffered major reverses in Bihar as counting of votes in Wednesday's by-polls progressed today.

With 49 results declared, the Congress has won 16 and the BJP 11. The other seats were shared by the Janata Dal (four), the Telugu Desam Party (three), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (three), the Bahujan Samaj Party (three) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Asom Gana Parishad, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal, the Shiv Sena, the Samata Party, the Biju Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party, and the Left Democratic Front-supported independent (one each).

In the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency in Himachal Pradesh, Maheshwar Singh (BJP) was leading over Congress candidate and wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, Pratibha Singh, by more than 100,000 votes.

In Bihar, the RJD bagged three seats while the Congress, the Samata Party and the Janata Dal secured one each. The BJP drew a blank.

Rechecking of ballots has been ordered in Tarapur constituency after the RJD leaders alleged manipulation of votes by the counting supervisor and assistants.

Elections were held for 51 assembly and three Lok Sabha seats spread over 13 states. The ruling SAD-B retained the Tarn Taran parliamentary seat with its candidate Tirlochan Singh Tur defeating Dilbagh Dalke (Congress) by 2,07,185 votes.

The counting of votes in four assembly and the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh parliamentary constituency (Jammu and Kashmir) was taken up today.

In Orissa, the poll alliance of the BJD-BJP, which swept the Lok Sabha polls in the state, received a big jolt as the ruling Congress wrested three assembly seats from them in the assembly by-elections.

Congress candidates won Bhandaripokhri (SC) and Khurda assembly seats earlier held by the BJD and the Bonai (ST) assembly seat held by the BJP.

The BJD managed to retain the Baragarh assembly seat and the BJP, the Junagarh assembly seat.

By-elections were held in five assembly seats as the sitting members (three from the BJD and two from the BJP) vacated their seats following their election to the Lok Sabha.

The Janata Dal, which fielded candidates in four assembly seats leaving Bonai to CPI-M, failed to make its presence felt in the by-election as its candidates secured less than 2000 votes in Baragarh and Khurda assembly seats.

With three more assembly seats captured by the ruling Congress, its strength in the 147 member assembly has gone up to 83 while the strength of both the BJD and the BJP has been reduced to 27 and 10 respectively.

In Maharashtra, the Congress had bagged seven -- Dahanu (ST), Ramtek, Biloli, Kannad, Akkalkot, Mulshi and Shingnapur. The Congress wrested Akkalkot from the BJP and Ramtek from the Shiv Sena, but lost Kagal to the Sena. The BJP wrested Satara from the congress.

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP bagged three seats -- Tulsipur, Nagina and Didarnagar -- while the BSP got three -- Chaubepur, Harora and Madiyon. Milkipur went to the SP. The BJP had no representation in any of the seven seats.

In Karnataka, the JD won three seats -- Mandya, Hunsur and Balloli -- while the Congress got two -- Davangere and Baindur. The BJP retained Uttarahalli and wrested Bagalkot.

In Bihar, the ruling RJD bagged three seats -- Raghopur, Belaganj and Bodh Gaya -- while the Congress (Sheikhpura), the Samata Party (Gobindganj) and the JD (Pupri) got one each. Rechecking of ballots was on in Tarapur after the RJD alleged manipulation of votes.

In Andhra Pradesh, the ruling TDP scored a resounding victory in the by-elections by winning three seats, while the Congress wrested the Metpalli seat from the BJP.

The TDP wrested the Attili seat from the Congress while retaining Mummidivaram (SC) and Andole (SC) seats. TDP publicity secretary D Siva Rama Raju won the Attili seat by a handsome margin of 45,556 votes by defeating his nearest Congress rival Swamy Naidu.

Well known Telugu film comedian Babu Mohan, who had crossed over to the ruling TDP after losing the Amalapuram (SC) seat to G M C Balayogi in the Lok Sabha elections, won the Andole (SC) constituency by a margin of 10,553 votes when he defeated his nearest Congress rival Damodar Rajanarasimha.

Vivekananda trounced his Congress rival Viswaroop by a margin of more than 17,000 votes to enable the TDP to retain the Mummidivaram seat.

Congress candidate K Jyothi won by 3885 votes over her nearest BJP rival T Venkatarami Reddy. The BJP had lost the seat for the first time since 1985. The seat was held continuously by state party president Ch Vidyasagar Rao.

In Assam, the ruling AGP and the Congress shared the two assembly results in the by-election in Assam.

While the AGP wrested the Naoboicha seat from the Congress, the Congress retained the Margherita seat when its candidate and party spokesman Pradyut Bordoloi was elected for the first time to the assembly.

Congress sources said they had lost the naoboicha seat because of party's internal feud.

Meanwhile, the AGP has gained some strength, winning the Naoboicha seat as it had failed to win any seat in the last Lok Sabha election in the state.

The ruling CPI-M retained the Kamalpur seat in Tripura. Its candidate Bijoy Laxmi Sinha defeated her Congress rival Sribash Chakraborty by 9,704 votes.

The LDF -backed independent Dr Sebastian Paul wrested the Ernakulam seat from the Congress in Kerala defeating Leno Jacob by 3,900 votes.

In Haryana, Congress candidate Kuldip Bishnoi defeated Hari Singh (Haryana Vikas Party) by a margin of more than 17,775 votes. The Congress retained the seat.

In Punjab, the SAD-B candidate Mohinder Kaur defeated Congress candidate Santosh Choudhary by 9,362 votes.

In Himachal Pradesh, Nirmala Devi (BJP) won the Pragpur seat defeating Yog Raj (Congress) by 11,096 votes.

The Jammu East seat was won by Ashu Hauria (BJP). Hauria defeated Ved Mahajan (Congress) by 6,197 votes.

In Karnataka, the ruling Janata Dal in Karnataka bagged three seats, the Congress and the BJP two each, while the Lok Shakthi, the BJP'S ally drew a blank as the results of the seven assembly seats for which by-elections were held on June 3, were announced today.

The Dal, which had fared badly in the Lok Sabha elections, retained the Mandya and Balloli (reserved) seats and wrested the Hunsur seat with party nominee G T Deve Gowda, a close associate of deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah defeating his nearest rival and party rebel Papanna by a margin of just 216 votes. The party, however lost Bagalkot to the BJP.

The Congress retained the Davangere seat and wrested the Baindur seat from the BJP.

The BJP retained its Uttarahalli seat, with its candidate R Ashok defeating his nearest Congress rival and former minister S Ramesh by a margin of over 19000 votes.

Union Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde's Lok Shakthi lost all the three seats -- Hunsur, Mandya and Balloli -- it contested.

Of the seven seats, the BJP and the Janata Dal had held three seats each and the Congress one earlier. By-elections for six seats were held following the resignation of MLAs on their election to the Lok Sabha. The by-election in Mandya was held due to death of mines and geology minister S D Jayaram recently.

The following is the party tally in the assembly by-elections at 1830 hrs:

Total seats 51

Results declared 49

Congress 16
BJP 11
JD 4
TDP 3
BSP 3
RJD 3
CPI-M 1
AGP 1
SAD-Badal 1
Shiv Sena 1
Samata Party 1
Independent (LDF) 1
BJD 1
SP 1
HVC 1

Total 49

UNI

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