INDIA bloc wins 10 seats, BJP 2 in assembly bypolls

New Delhi, July 13: The Election Commission has announced the results for all 13 assembly seats that had bypolls on July 10. The INDIA bloc, representing the Opposition, made significant gains by winning 10 seats, while the BJP secured only 2. One seat was won by an Independent candidate.

The Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, claimed victory in all four seats in West Bengal that were up for bypolls. The Congress won four seats, with two each in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The Aam Aadmi Party secured the single seat in Punjab. An Independent candidate won the Rupauli seat in Bihar.

The BJP managed to win one seat each in Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The Rupauli seat in Bihar went to an Independent candidate.

Meanwhile in a face-saving for the AAP government in Punjab led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, its nominee Mohinder Bhagat on Saturday won the Jalandhar (West) Assembly bypoll by 37,325 votes, defeating nearest rival and BJP candidate Sheetal Angural, whose defection from AAP necessitated the bypoll. Bhagat's win was one-sided as he was leading from the initial round of counting. The polling was held on July 10.

Angural polled 17,921 votes, while Congress candidate Surinder Kaur, the former senior Deputy Mayor of Jalandhar, finished third with 16,757 votes, as per the Election Commission of India.

There were 15 candidates in the fray. Celebrations broke out at the AAP office in Chandigarh with the news of the party's win.

"The people of Jalandhar (West) have stamped their approval on the development work of the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann by making the AAP candidate Mohinder Bhagat victorious by a huge margin," the party wrote on X.

Bhagat, who left BJP and joined the AAP in April 2023, is the son of a three-time MLA from this Assembly constituency of BJP and served as Cabinet Minister from 2007-2017.