Priyanka wins Wayanad Lok Sabha seat by over 4.1 lakh votes

Bengaluru: Ruling Congress in Karnataka was ahead in all three -- Channapatna, Shiggaon and Sandur -- Assembly segments, as the counting of votes is underway on Saturday for by-polls held there.

Congress has been maintaining a steady lead in Sandur, since counting began earlier in the day and it has now also emerged as the front-runner in Channapatna and Shiggaon segments, where JD(S) and BJP were leading earlier, according to Election Commission numbers.

The by-election to three segments was held on November 13.

The bypolls to Sandur, Shiggaon and Channapatna were necessitated as the seats fell vacant following the election of their respective representatives -- E Tukaram of Congress, former CM Basavaraj Bommai of BJP, and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) to Lok Sabha in May elections.

The bypolls witnessed a straight fight between the ruling Congress and BJP in Sandur and Shiggaon segments, while in Channapatna, JD(S) which is part of the NDA took on the grand old party.

In Channapatna, which witnessed a “high profile” battle, among the three segments, JD(S)' actor-turned-politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is the son of Kumaraswamy and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's grandson, is trailing against Congress' C P Yogeeshwara by a margin of 19,793 votes, by getting 41,472 votes so far, according to Election Commission.

A five-time MLA from the segment and a former minister, Yogeeshwara, who is also an actor-turned-politician has secured 61,265 votes. He had joined the Congress after quitting the BJP ahead of his nomination.

BJP and JD(S) leaders had together campaigned for Nikhil in Channapatna.

In Shiggaon, BJP's Bharath Bommai, son of Basavaraj Bommai is trailing with a margin of 1,158 votes against Congress' Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, who had faced defeat against the former chief minister in the 2023 Assembly polls.

While Bharath Bommai has got 43,399 votes, Pathan has got 44,557 votes so far, according to the Election Commission.

In Sandur, Bellary MP Tukaram's wife E Annapurna of Congress has maintained her lead in the seat vacated by her husband, against BJP ST Morcha president Bangaru Hanumanthu, by a margin of 6,562 votes.

While Annapurna got 67,124 votes so far, Hanumanthu secured 60,562 votes.

With Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Bharath Bommai contesting, the third generation of Gowda and Bommai families were in the fray in this bypoll battle. Both their fathers and grandfathers have served as Karnataka's Chief Ministers in the past. - PTI

Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party was leading from Chabbewal, Gidderbaha and Dera Baba Nanak while the Congress was ahead in Barnala segment in Punjab, showed trends in the counting of votes bypolls to four Assembly segments in the state on Saturday. In Chabbewal, the AAP's Ishank Kumar Chabbewal consolidated his pole position as he was leading by 21,081 votes against his nearest rival and Congress candidate Ranjit Kumar after the 10th round of counting. The BJP's Sohan Singh Thandal was in the third spot. Sensing victory, Ishank's supporters have already started celebrating. In Gidderbaha, AAP's Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon was leading by 5,976 votes against his nearest rival and Congress nominee Amrita Warring, the wife of Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, after four rounds of counting. BJP candidate and former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal was in the third spot. In Barnala, Congress candidate Kuldeep Singh Dhillon is leading by 2,750 votes against his nearest rival and BJP nominee Kewal Singh Dhillon after the eight rounds of counting. AAP candidate Harinder Singh Dhaliwal was trailing at the third spot. The Dera Baba Nanak was witnessing a neck-and-neck contest between the Congress and AAP. AAP candidate Gurdeep Singh Randhawa was leading by 505 votes against Congress candidate Jatinder Kaur Randhawa after nine rounds of counting. Kaur was leading from the third to the eighth round of counting. She is the wife of Congress MP from Gurdaspur Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. Counting of votes for the bypolls to Punjab's four assembly segments began at 8 am on Saturday. Bypolls to Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC) and Barnala took place on November 20. The bypolls were necessitated after the incumbent legislators were elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year. PTI

Mumbai: BJP's Santukrao Hambarde is leading by 839 votes over his Congress rival Ravindra Chavan in the initial rounds of counting for the bypoll to the Nanded Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra. Hambarde is locked in a straight fight against the Congress candidate, who polled 86,771 votes against his 87,610. The bypoll to the Nanded Lok Sabha seat was necessitated due to the death of sitting Congress MP Vasant Chavan on August 26. Ravindra Chavan is his son. Pratap Patil Chikhalikar, who won the 2019 Lok Sabha poll for the Nanded seat as a BJP candidate, had defeated Ashok Chavan then with the Congress. Chikhalikar lost the 2024 Lok Sabha poll from Nanded to Vasant Chavan by more than 59,000 votes. While Ashok Chavan joined the BJP in February this year, Chikhalikar is now with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and is contesting the assembly poll from Loha in Nanded, which he has represented twice as an MLA. - PTI

Wayanad (Kerala): Congress-led UDF candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday extended her lead by over two lakh votes after three hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll in Kerala, according to the Election Commission. According to EC figures at 11.23 am, Priyanka received 3,17,983 votes with LDF's Sathyan Mokeri at second with 1,08,810 and BJP's Navya Haridas third with 60,692 votes. The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first. The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began. The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13. Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, who is making her electoral debut, CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas. - PTI

New Delhi: Congress-led UDF candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was comfortably leading over her rivals in her maiden contest from Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha seat on Saturday while the BJP was ahead of the SP in five assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where the bypoll results are being seen as a precursor to the 2027 assembly polls.

The Aam Aadmi Party and Congress were leading from two assembly seats each in Punjab while in Rajasthan, the Congress, BJP and Bharat Adivasi Party were leading in two seats each. In West Bengal, Trinamool Congress candidates have taken an unassailable lead in the bypolls held for six assembly constituencies while in Bihar, the ruling NDA was ahead in two seats. In Uttarakhand, BJP's Asha Nautiyal was leading in Kedarnath over Congress' Manoj Rawat. After two hours of counting in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra extended her lead by over one lakh votes. According to the EC update, Priyanka Gandhi received 1,65,487 votes with LDF's Sathyan Mokeri at second with 56,929 and BJP's Navya Haridas third with 31,018 votes. All eyes were on Uttar Pradesh where the BJP candidates were leading in Majhawan, Ghaziabad, Kundkarki, Khair and Pulpur, while the SP was ahead in Karhal and Sismhamau and the RLD in Meerapur.

As the counting of votes progresses in the bypolls to seven assembly seats of Rajasthan, the BJP, Congress and Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) candidates were leading on two seats each while an Independent was leading in Jhunjhunu. In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party was leading from Chabbewal and Gidderbaha while the Congress was ahead in Dera Baba Nanak and Barnala segments. In the northeast, the ruling NDA alliance in Assam secured early leads in four of the five assembly constituencies while in Sikkim, the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) candidates Aditya Golay and Satish Chandra Rai were elected unopposed to Soreng-Chakung and Namchi-Singhithang assembly constituencies. Golay was the only candidate in the fray for the bypolls to Soreng-Chakung seat after SDF's Probin Hang Subba withdrew his nomination. Rai was elected unopposed from Namchi-Singhithang assembly constituency as he was the sole candidate in the fray, following the withdrawal of candidature by SDF nominee Daniel Rai. PTI KDK In Meghalaya, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma's wife Mehtab Chandee Sangma has secured early leads in the bypoll to Gambegre constituency in West Garo Hills district. Karnataka trends showed the ruling Congress leading in Sandur segment, and BJP and JD(S) ahead in Shiggaon and Channapatna constituencies respectively.

In the two assembly seats of Kerala, ruling LDF candidate U R Pradeep was in the lead by over 5,000 votes after two hours of counting in the Chelakkara Assembly while the Congress-led UDF has taken the lead from the BJP-led NDA in Palakkad. In Gujarat, Congress candidate Gulabsinh Rajput was leading by a margin of 1,174 votes over his nearest rival and BJP candidate Swarupji Thakor in the by-election to the Vav assembly in Banaskantha district. BJP's Santukrao Marorao Hambarde was leading from the Nanded Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra.

The Lok Sabha bypolls were held for two seats of Wayanad and Nanded while the assembly bypolls were held in nine seats in Uttar Pradesh, seven seats in Rajasthan, six seats in West Bengal, five seats in Assam, four seats each in Punjab and Bihar, three seats in Karnataka and Kerala, two seats in Madhya Pradesh and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Meghalaya. - PTI

Dehradun: BJP's Asha Nautiyal was leading by a margin of more than 3,000 votes against her Congress rival Manoj Rawat at the end of the sixth round of counting for the Kedarnath assembly bypoll, according to Election Commission data. While Nautiyal polled 13,696 votes, Rawat got 10,633, the data showed. Independent candidate Tribhuvan Singh is in the third spot with 7,935 votes. He was in the second spot in the first, fourth and fifth rounds of counting and was taken over by Rawat. Kedarnath seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Shaila Rani Rawat in July. The bypoll to the seat was held on November 20. Counting of votes in Kedarnath began at 8 am amid tight security. - PTI