Assembly bypolls: TVK wins 2 seats in TN, BJP also bags 2 in Bengal

CHENNAI/KOLKATA/PUDUCHERRY/GUWAHATI: TVK cleared its first test barely five months after forming govt in Tamil Nadu, winning the bypolls in two assembly constituencies, while in West Bengal, BJP retained Nandigram - CM Suvendu Adhikari's backyard - and wrested Rejinagar from AJUP (Aam Janata Unnayan Party), winning both assembly bypolls in its first electoral test since coming to office in state. All-India NR Congress, an NDA ally, retained Thattanchavady assembly segment, with Ashok Anand defeating his nearest Congress rival by over 8,400 votes. BJP regained Assam's Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency, with ex-IAS officer Devasish Sharma securing about 50% of the vote. AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal finished second, followed by Congress's Sibamoni Bora. Sharma, who was Nagaon district commissioner when he took VRS and had joined BJP last month, led Ajmal by over 1.5 lakh votes, while Bora trailed by over 1.2 lakh votes. A victory for political decorum and personal decency, says Vijay Though Madurantakam and Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu presented different political terrain, TVK won both seats with comfortable margins by fielding former AIADMK MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama, who had joined the governing party barely 20 days after the assembly election results in May. Sathyabama won Dharapuram by 9,471 votes, while Maragatham secured Madurantakam with a margin of 20,040 votes. DMK finished second in both seats, while AIADMK, which had won the two segments in the April assembly election, was pushed to third. The results increase TVK’s strength in the 234-member assembly from 107 to 109. “This is a victory for political decorum and personal decency. The victory is a verdict against derogatory remarks targeting women, personal attacks and betrayal. This winning streak will continue,” chief minister C Joseph Vijay posted on X. DMK president MK Stalin called it a “temporary victory for betrayal”. BJP’s two victories in Bengal take its strength to 209 in an assembly where it faces a fractured opposition, a part of which has been toeing the govt line on key issues. The saffron party retained Nandigram, where a bypoll was necessitated by Adhikari’s decision to vacate the seat in favour of Bhabanipur, by a record 1,22,753 votes.

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Adhikari had won Nandigram in the April assembly polls by 9,665 votes. Sanchita Dey Pradhan, fielded by Mamata Trinamool Congress, had withdrawn from the race on Sept 17 after meeting Adhikari in Kolkata. Congress candidate Milan Pradhan, who finished second with the backing of Mamata Trinamool Congress, spent 11 days in police custody over FIRs lodged 19 years ago. He was able to campaign for only four days after Calcutta HC granted him interim bail on Sept 29. The comfortable wins in the Muslim-dominated seats of Nandigram and Rejinagar signal a potential shift in Bengal’s political arithmetic. In Rejinagar, BJP candidate Shankharavh Sarkar won by 75,816 votes, pushing AJUP, which won the seat in the April poll, to second place. Muslims constitute 72% of the electorate in Rejinagar, in Murshidabad.

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