Poor show by BJP in by-polls; leads in only 13 of 33 seats
16 Sep 2014
With counting well under way in the by-election for 33 assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats spread over 10 states, early trends show considerable disillusionment with the Bharatiya Janata Party ruling at the Centre.
In Uttar Pradesh particularly, the BJP faces a drubbing at the hands of the Samajwadi Party, while it looks like losing at least two seats in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state of Gujarat to the Congress.
The three Lok Sabha seats are in Vadodara ( Gujarat), vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh) and Medak (Telangana) – where the ruling TRS party's T K Prabhakar is leading by a huge margin of some 1.5 lakh votes.
Eleven of the 11 assembly constituencies are in UP, nine in Gujarat, four in Rajasthan, two in West Bengal, five in the north-eastern states and one each in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.
Early trends show BJP has significantly lost foothold since Lok Sabha elections in May. The results of the by-polls are sure to be a shock the party, although its leaders have tried to play it down and says it should not be seen as a reflection on the Modi government.
The party according to trends so far is on the brinks of facing a serious reverse of fortune in Rajasthan as well as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The BJP is at risk of losing all the seats in Western Uttar Pradesh, where it swept the general elections in May.
The results are also significant as the BJP is preparing for state assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra next month, where it hopes to oust the Congress.
The latest trends show that in Uttar Pradesh (11 seats), the Samajwadi party is leading in nine constituencies and the BJP in two.
Of the four seats in Rajasthan, the opposition Congress has won one and is leading in two others.
In Assam, the BJP is nowhere, as the AIUDF is leading in two of the three seats and the Congress in one.
Overall, the trends show the BJP leading in 13 seats, the Samajwadi Party in 9, the Congress in five and others in five constituencies.
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