DNA Exclusive: What do the bypoll results mean for assembly elections next year?

New Delhi: The results of the by-elections for 30 assembly and three Lok Sabha seats across the country were declared today. The results are mixed, with something for every major party that contested. The question is whether these results indicate public opinion on Modi government or if there is nothing for the BJP to worry about.

Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Tuesday (November 2) discussed the significance of the bypoll results.

In Himachal Pradesh, by-elections were held for four seats, including one Lok Sabha and three Assembly seats. Despite being in power in the state, BJP lost all these seats to Congress. The Congress even defeated BJP in the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, which was held by the BJP since 2014 and from where the incumbent Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur was himself elected as an MLA.

The assembly elections are to be held in Himachal next year. In such a situation, these results are not good for BJP at all. However, it must be noted that the bypolls are usually dominated by local issues and the real fight is not between the parties but between the candidates. That is, these results do not have much impact on national politics.

The results are certainly not an indication of people’s anger owing to high fuel prices because in Madhya Pradesh petrol is about Rs 20 more than in Himachal. But despite this, BJP easily won two out of three assembly seats in MP.

In Karnataka, BJP and Congress won one seat each.

Among the regional parties, JD(U) won both the assembly seats in Bihar. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress won all four assembly seats.

The results of the bypolls have certainly given a sigh of relief to Congress. The party managed to win two assembly seats in Rajasthan and one in Maharashtra apart from the clean sweep in Himachal.

Overall, BJP and its allies won one Lok Sabha seat out of three and 16 out of 30 assembly seats. The Congress and its allies won one Lok Sabha and 8 assembly seats.

The results were largely dependent on the local issues with direct contests between the candidates instead of the parties. Issues like inflation or farm laws were not very relevant in these elections. The results will likely not have much impact on national politics or assembly polls next year. 

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