india

Updated: Dec 23, 2018 22:29 IST

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Jasdan assembly in Gujarat and the Congress won the Kolebira assembly seat in Jharkhand in the two bypolls held earlier this week, whose results were announced on Sunday.

Cabinet minister Kunvarji Bavaliya retained his constituency, defeating Congress candidate Avsar Nakia by 19,979 votes, taking BJP’s number in 182 member Gujarat assembly to 100. Bawalia, a five-time legislator from Jasdan, had won on the Congress ticket in 2017 assembly election but resigned after defecting to the BJP earlier this year.

“In 2017 assembly elections, Bavaliya had won Jasdan with 9,000 votes. This time it is nearly 20,000 votes, indicating that it is a win of the BJP,’’ said Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani. The Congress, giving its best performance in decades now, has 77 seats.

Congratulating Bavaliya for his win, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “I thank the people of Jasdan for blessing the BJP and supporting the party’s development agenda. Congratulations to Kunvarjibhai Bavaliya for the victory.”

Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda said, “We accept the defeat and will continue to raise the issues of farmers and other people’’. The Congress had made farm crisis an issue for the bypoll to put the BJP under pressure over the issue of farm loan waiver.

The result is also an indicator of BJP’s support from the Koli community, which is the largest backward community in Gujarat. They constitute 22% of the state’s population.

Meanwhile, in Jharkhand’s Kolebira, Congress candidate Naman Bixal Kongari won the seat by a margin of 9,658 votes, defeating BJP candidate Basant Soreng. The victory is significant for the party as it has won this seat for the first time in 15 years.

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) leader Babulal Marandi had supported the Congress but the main opposition party in the state Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) decided to support Jharkhand Party’s Menan Eka, who finished fourth. The bypoll in Kolebira was necessitated after the sitting MLA and Menan’s husband, Enos Ekka, was convicted by a court.

Congress state chief Ajoy Kumar said, “the poll result manifested the prevailing public sentiment against the BJP’s bad governance and anti-people policies.”