Priyanka wins Wayanad Lok Sabha seat by over 4.1 lakh votes

Palanpur: Congress candidate Gulabsinh Rajput widened his lead by 13,978 votes over his BJP rival Swarupji Thakor after 13 rounds of counting in the by-elections to the Vav assembly seat in Gujarat's Banaskantha district. Rajput polled 60,362 votes against Thakor's 46,384, and with 15,927 votes, independent candidate Mavji Patel was placed third at the end of the 13th round. The counting of votes will be conducted in 23 rounds in 321 booths at the counting centre.

The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of Congress MLA Geniben Thakor, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Banaskantha in June. The constituency recorded a 70.55 per cent turnout in the by-election on November 13.

The Vav election was a three-cornered fight, with BJP rebel Mavji Patel giving a tough fight to Congress' Rajput and BJP's Thakor. Seven other candidates — six independents and one from the Bharatiya Jan Parishad party — were also in the fray for the bypoll necessitated following the resignation of Congress MLA Geniben Thakor, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Banaskantha in June. In the 2022 assembly polls, BJP's Swarupji Thakor lost from Vav seat, a Congress bastion, to opposition party candidate Geniben Thakor.

Mavji Patel (73), who comes from the dominant Chaudhary community, was suspended as BJP's primary member on Sunday for his decision to contest as an independent candidate. The constituency has been a Congress stronghold, with Geniben Thakor winning the seat in 2017 and again in 2022. In the general elections held earlier this year, Geniben Thakor defeated BJP's Rekhaben Chaudhary, a debutant, by more than 30,000 votes in Banaskantha, becoming the only Congress candidate to register a win in Gujarat. At least 159 government employees were involved in the counting of votes, they said. Also, 400 police personnel, CAPF, and SRP personnel are posted at the counting centre equipped with CCTV cameras. - PTI

Bengaluru: The ruling Congress in Karnataka on Saturday retained its strong hold of Sandur, with its candidate E Annapoorna, winning the Assembly bypoll by a margin of 9,649 votes. Annapoorna, the wife of Bellary MP E Tukaram, won the seat vacated by her husband, defeating BJP ST Morcha president Bangaru Hanumanthu.

The bypoll for the Sandur seat was necessitated following the election of E Tukaram of Congress to Lok Sabha in May elections. The by-election was held on November 13 and the votes were counted today. While Annapoorna secured 93,616 votes, Hanumanthu got 83,967 votes, the Election Commission said. Tukaram, who had represented Sandur four times, had won the seat for Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls by a margin of 35,522 votes, securing 85,223 votes. - PTI

Chandigarh: AAP candidate Ishank Kumar Chabbewal won the Chabbewal assembly seat in Punjab on Saturday, defeating his nearest rival and Congress nominee Ranjit Kumar by a margin of 28,690 votes, according to officials.

Ishank Kumar, a doctor, polled 51,904 votes and Ranjit Kumar secured 23,214 votes. The BJP's Sohan Singh Thandal was a distant third with 8,692 votes, Election Commission data showed. The Chabbewal bypoll was necessitated after Ishank Kumar's father Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who was a Congress MLA but later joined the AAP, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur. Raj Kumar was elected to the Punjab Assembly from Chabbewal in 2017 and 2022 on Congress tickets. Counting of votes for the bypolls to the four assembly seats in Punjab began at 8 am. Besides Chabbewal (SC), Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak and Barnala went to polls on November 20. The bypolls were necessitated after the four MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha. - PTI

Lucknow: The BJP and its ally RLD were leading in six of the nine Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats where bypolls were held earlier this week while the Samajwadi Party was ahead in the remaining three, Election Commission trends showed on Saturday.

The BJP was in the lead in Kundarki, Khair, Ghaziabad, Phulpur and Majhawan seats, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Meerapur and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Karhal, Katehari and Sisamau. In Meerapur, the RLD's Mithilesh Pal is leading by a margin of 18,281 votes against the Samajwadi Party candidate.

The BJP's Ramveer Singh is leading in Kundarki by a margin of 64,690 votes while his party colleague Sanjeev Sharma is leading by 38,007 votes in Ghaziabad. Surender Diler is leading by a margin of 19,884 votes in the Khair (SC) seat. In Phulpur, the BJP's Deepak Patel is leading by a margin of 3,877 votes and in Majhawan party candidate Shuchismita Maurya is leading by a margin of 2,772 votes.

In Karhal, the Samajwadi Party's Tej Pratap Yadav is leading by a margin of 23,655 votes while his party colleague Naseem Solanki is ahead of her nearest rival in Sishamau by a margin of 14,536 votes. The Samajwadi Party's Shobwati Verma is leading by a margin of 2929 votes in Katehari's seat. In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the BJP won Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Khair seats and the SP secured Sisamau, Katehari, Karhal and Kundarki.

The RLD, which was an SP ally then, won the Meerapur seat. The party has since switched sides and is now part of the BJP-led NDA. The Congress did not contest the bypolls and extended support to the SP, its INDIA bloc ally. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contested all nine seats and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) fielded candidates from Ghaziabad, Kundarki and Meerapur.

The Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), led by Chandrashekhar Aazad, also contested all seats except Sisamau. In the current assembly, the BJP has 251 MLAs and the SP 105. BJP allies, such as Apna Dal (Sonelal), RLD, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party and NISHAD Party, also have members in the House. The Congress and the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik hold two seats each and the BSP one. - PTI

Bhopal: The BJP is leading in the Budhni and Vijaypur assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, where by-elections were held on November 13, officials said. These trends were recorded in the initial rounds of counting.

According to an election official, BJP's Ramakant Bhargava is leading by 1,809 votes against Congress candidate Rajkumar Patel in Budhni after three rounds of counting. Bhargava was earlier trailing by 953 votes after the second round of counting. BJP candidate Ramniwas Rawat is leading by 5,001 votes against Congress Mukesh Malhotra after ten rounds of counting in the Vijaypur assembly seat.

The Budhni seat will see 13 rounds of counting, while there will be 21 rounds in Vijaypur. The Budhni seat fell vacant after sitting BJP MLA and former CM Chouhan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Vidisha in June. The BJP stalwart was later inducted into the Union Cabinet and allocated the key agriculture portfolio.

The bypoll in Vijaypur was necessitated after sitting Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat resigned and joined the ruling BJP. He was later inducted as a minister in the Mohan Yadav cabinet. Rawat contested against tribal leader Mukesh Malhotra of the Congress. - PTI

Kolkata: Ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidates have taken an unassailable lead in the bypolls held in the six assembly constituencies in West Bengal, with counting underway since 8 am on Saturday. These results are drawing significant attention, especially in light of the ongoing protests related to the RG Kar Medical College incident, which has sparked public outcry in the state.

The bypolls were held in Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra, Sitai (SC), and Madarihat (ST), following the resignation of sitting MLAs who had secured victories in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, thus vacating their assembly seats. These elections are seen as an important political test for the state's ruling party. In Sitai, a Scheduled Caste (SC) constituency, TMC's Sangita Roy is leading by 1,22,342 votes, 93,208 more than her nearest rival, Dipak Kumar Ray of the BJP, who has so far secured 29,134 votes. In Madarihat, a Scheduled Tribe (ST) seat, TMC's Jayprakash Toppo is leading by 66,315 votes, ahead of BJP's Rahul Lohar, who has received 25,165 votes.

The seat was won by the BJP in the 2021 assembly polls. In Naihati, TMC's Sanat Dey has bagged 71,759 votes against BJP's Rupak Mitra's 26,785. In Haroa, TMC's SK Rabiul Islam has garnered 91,369 votes, against his rival, Piyarul Islam of the All India Secular Front, who is trailing with 14,211 votes. TMC's Sujoy Hazra is leading in Medinipur with 65,168 votes, 21,032 more than BJP's Subhajit Roy (Bunty), who has secured 44,136 votes. In Taldangra, TMC's Falguni Singhababu has polled 43,979 votes, 16,101 more than BJP's Ananya Roy Chakraborty, who has received 27,878 votes. Of the six constituencies, five are located in South Bengal, a stronghold of the TMC, while Madarihat, in the northern part of the state, had been won by the BJP in the 2021 assembly elections, making it a key battleground in the region. Despite the BJP's hopes of retaining its northern seat in Madarihat, the party is currently trailing behind TMC in all constituencies.

The bypolls come at a time when the state's political landscape is charged with protest movements, especially surrounding the RG Kar incident, which has added a layer of intensity to the electoral battle. - PTI

Palakkad: Congress-led UDF has taken the lead from the BJP-led NDA which was ahead in the earlier rounds in the Palakkad Assembly bypoll as the counting of votes commenced on Saturday. With the counting of votes underway, Congress candidate Rahul Mamkootathil is in the lead with 1,425 votes. He secured 28,062 votes against BJP candidate C Krishnakumar's 26,637 votes in the seventh round of the total 14 rounds of the counting, according to the Election Commission of India. Krishnakumar was in the lead earlier.

The Palakkad bypoll votes are being counted at Victoria College here, where the strong room was opened at 8 am. Among the 10 candidates contesting, the main contenders are Rahul Mamkootathil from the Congress-led UDF, C Krishnakumar from the BJP-led NDA, and P Sarin from the CPI(M)-led LDF. The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of Congress leader Shafi Parambil, who vacated the seat after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Vadakara in the general election this year. - PTI