Cong draws a blank in bypolls

DHNS

New Delhi, 18 October 2011:

In a bruising electoral setback, the Congress on Monday forfeited its deposit in the much-hyped Hisar Lok Sabha byelection in Haryana while the party and its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), lost all the three Assembly bypolls in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar.

 

Of the three Assembly seats, the BJP won Khadakwasala in Maharashtra and its NDA ally Janata Dal (United) in Daraunda in Bihar, while the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) bagged the Banswada seat in Andhra Pradesh.

 

In Hisar, where Team Anna aggressively campaigned against the Congress, the result went in favour of Kuldeep Bishnoi, a nominee of the Haryana Janhit Congress-BJP combine.

 

He polled 3,55,541 votes, while Ajay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal was 5,923 votes behind. Fifty-year-old Bishnoi is a son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal whose death had caused the bypoll.

Kuldeep Bishnoi

In a closely fought battle in Hisar, where Anna Hazare is believed to have tilted the scales, Congress candidate and three-time MP Jai Parkash finished a poor third with 1,49,785 votes. Jai Parkash had won the seat in the 2004 elections.

 

The ruling Congress-NCP combine suffered humiliation in Maharashtra where it lost the Khadakwasla seat to the BJP, supported by the Shiv Sena and Republican Party of India (Athawale).

 

Khadakwasla falls in the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency represented by NCP president Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule.

 

As expected, the TRS romped home in the Banswada constituency in Nizamabad district in the strife-torn Telangana region.

 

Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy, who had quit the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to embrace the TRS, defeated the ruling Congress’s Srinivas Goud by a massive margin of 49,889 votes.

 

In Bihar’s Daroundha, the ruling Janata Dal(U) retained seat as its candidate Kavita Singh defeated her nearest Rashtriya Janata Dal rival Parmeshwar Singh by a margin of over 20,000 votes. Kalika Sharan Singh of the Congress lost his deposit.

 

Anna effect:

In Hisar, the Congress had put much at stake as Team Anna campaigned against its candidate. However, at the end of the day, the party suffered a major setback.

 

Team Anna had actively entered the electoral fray in Hisar to put pressure on the Congress to get the Lokpal bill passed during the winter session of Parliament.

 

However, Bishnoi said he owed nothing to the anti-corruption crusader. 

 

The Congress also preferred to underplay the Anna effect and claimed Hazare’s campaign had no impact on the polls.

 

“The loss has nothing to do with the Anna effect. Hisar was never a Congress stronghold. In the last election also, the Congress had come third.  Also, it is more of a sympathy vote for Bishnoi, whose father was an MP from the same seat, and generally people vote for the relative of the deceased,” Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary said.

 

Arvind Kejriwal claimed the Hisar byelection was clearly a referendum for the Jan Lokpal bill. However, he clarified that the team was not against any party, including the Congress, 

 

“We are not anti-Congress. For the last 64 years, we have seen different political parties. If we tried to put pressure on the Congress and bring the Lokpal bill, then that is because they are at the Centre. The ruling coalition cannot give any excuse on the bill now.”

 

Election tangle:

* Haryana Janhit Congress-BJP combine nominee Kuldeep Bishnoi  wins Hisar Lok Sabha constituency

* Bishnoi is son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal whose death caused the bypoll 

* Congress candidate and three-time MP  Jai Prakash   lost deposit

* Team Anna vigorously campaigned against the Congress in Hisar

* Congress, ally NCP lose  Assembly bypolls in Maharashtra, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh

* The BJP won Khadakwasala in Maharashtra , JD(U) in Daraunda in Bihar and TRS bagged the Banswada seat in Andhra Pradesh