BJP is losing Gurudaspur Lok Seat which it had won in 2014. The party finished at No. 4 on Vengara Assembly seat in Kerala
Chandigarh / Malappuram, Oct 15: Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar was ahead of his BJP rival Swarn Salaria as the counting of votes polled in the October 11 by-election to the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency was underway on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Indian Union Muslim League has won the Vengara Assembly seat in Kerala.
Congress heading towards victory in Gurdaspur LS bypoll
Gurdaspur, Punjab: Punjab’s ruling Congress was heading towards a big victory in the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat by-election as party candidate Sunil Jakhar extended his lead over his BJP rival Swaran Salaria by over 94,000 votes after 10 rounds of counting on Sunday, election officials said.
Congress leaders and workers had started celebrating the impending victory by bursting crackers and distributing sweets in Gurdaspur, Chandigarh and other places.
The seat was earlier held by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had won it in the 2014 general elections.
The seat fell vacant in April following the passing away of veteran actor Vinod Khanna, a four-time MP from the seat.
Jakhar remained in the lead from the beginning as the counting of votes polled in the October 11 bypoll began on earlier in the day.
Jakhar, who is the Punjab Congress President, was leading over BJP’s Salaria while Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Maj. Gen. Suresh Kumar Khajuria (retd) was at the third spot.
Khajuria left a counting centre alleging that the voting was rigged by the Congress, which recently came to power in the state after sweeping the assembly polls.
The counting was conducted in centres in Gurdaspur and Pathankot towns. There were 11 candidates in the fray.
Nearly 56 per cent of the 15.22 lakh registered voters exercised their franchise for the seat. The voter turnout was much lower than the over 70 per cent polling in the 2014 general elections.
IUML wins Kerala’s Vengara assembly bypoll
Malappuram, Kerala: Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidate K.N.A. Khader on Sunday won the Vengara by-election here with a margin of 23,310 votes.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer, Khader got 65,227 votes, CPI-M candidate P.P. Basheer came second with 41,917 votes followed by SDPI candidate K.C. Naseer and BJP candidate K. Janachandran in the third and fourth positions.
A total of 502 voters pressed the NOTA button.
The by-election was necessitated when sitting legislator and top Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P.K. Kunhalikutty vacated the seat after he was elected from the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency in April this year.
IUML – the second biggest constituent of the Congress-led UDF, had fielded two-time former legislator Khader, who expressed confidence that he will have a cakewalk.
In the Lok Sabha polls, Kunhalikutty had secured a margin of over 40,000 votes, while at the 2016 assembly polls he got a margin of over 38,000 votes.
“I am going back with lots of happiness as the Left did their best to see the back of me, but I managed to win easily. I thank all the people of this constituency and the UDF leaders,” said Khader.
Basheer said that he has been able to break the myth that the IUML was all prevailing and powerful.
“Just see the votes that we have managed to get and we could take the fightA into several strongholds of the IUML.”
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the results showed that the Congress-led opposition was on its way out.
“The IUML might have a technical victory, but we have scored a political victory.”
(IANS)
