Bhubaneswar: The ruling BJD in Odisha retained the Jharsuguda assembly seat on Saturday, as its candidate Dipali Das defeated her nearest BJP rival Tankadhar Tripathy by 48,721 votes, an election official said.  

Das secured a total of 1,07,198 votes, while Tripathy bagged 58,477 votes. Congress candidate Tarun Pandey came third with 4,496 votes.

Meanwhile in UP's Suar, Apna Dal candidate Shafeeq Ahmad Ansari beat Samajwadi Party's Anuradha Chauhan by 8,824 votes. In Punjab' Jalandhar West, Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Sushin Kumar Rinu, a former Congress MLA, won Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, defeating Cong's Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary by 58,691 votes. 

UP's Chhanbey has Apna Dal (S) candidate Rinki Kole taking a sudden lead with 44,455 votes, in the latest development. 

Test for one year of AAP rule in Jalandhar

Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the "unprecedented victory" is because of the Bhagwant Mann government's good work in Punjab. The win in Jalandhar will give the ruling party in Punjab and Delhi its only member in Lok Sabha. 

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The AAP has not had a member in the Lower House of Parliament since its defeat in the Sangrur bypolls last year.

The AAP currently has 10 members in Rajya Sabha.

Talking to reporters at the AAP headquarters here on the Jalandhar bypoll, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, "It's an unprecedented victory because of the Mann government's good work. Our party candidate is winning from the seat which was a Congress stronghold for last 50 years."

Mann, who was with Kejriwal, said the trend of the bypoll result is the people's "positive stamp" on the work done by his government in Punjab so far.

The Jalandhar seat had fallen vacant following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January.

The bypoll was seen as a test of the one-year performance of the Bhagwant Mann-led government, which has been promoting its policies to provide free electricity and jobs to the youth, regularise the services of contractual employees, take action against corruption, and open mohalla clinics, among others.

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The bypoll, held on May 10, recorded a voter turnout of 54.70%, the officials said. It was well below the 63.04% recorded in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Odisha bypoll

Altogether, 79.21% of 2.21 lakh voters exercised their franchise on May 10. The by-poll was held following the alleged assassination of health minister Naba Kisore Das on January 29 by a police officer.

In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJD has 113 members, while the opposition BJP and Congress have 22 and nine MLAs, respectively. The CPI (M) has one member, and there is one independent legislator.

Contest between ruling coalition and Oppn in UP
The bypolls were held in the Suar assembly seat in Rampur district and Chhanbey (SC) in Mirzapur district on May 10. There was a direct contest between the ruling coalition led by the BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) on both seats, political analysts said.

The Suar seat fell vacant in February following the disqualification of SP leader Azam Khan's son Abdullah Azam Khan as an MLA after a Moradabad court sentenced him to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case.

The Chhanbey seat fell vacant after the death of Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Prakash Kol in February.

(With inputs from PTI)

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