Ruling parties registered success on Saturday in six of the seven assembly by-elections in Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam and Maharashtra.
The Bahujan Samaj Party in UP wrested from the Congress the prestigious Gauriganj assembly seat in Amethi parliamentary constituency. Its candidate Jang Bahadur defeated the Congress' Fateh Bahadur by 7,504 votes.
The Samajwadi Party won the bypoll in Haidergarh constituency, UP. It was the only party in the opposition to bag a seat.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's People's Democratic Party retained the Pampore seat with its nominee Zahoor Ahmad Mir defeating the National Conference's Mushtaq Ahmad Kuchhay by 12,782 votes.
In Sattankulam bypoll in Tamil Nadu, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's L Neelamegavarnam beat the Congress' R Mahendran by a huge margin of 14,000 votes.
In Karnataka, the Congress wrested the Humnabad seat from the BJP. The BJP's Subash Kallur, whose election was set aside by the Supreme Court, finished third, behind the Janata Dal-Secular candidate.
In Assam's Ratabari constituency, the ruling Congress' nominee, Kripanath Mallah, won by a huge margin of 31,170 votes over his nearest BJP rival Sambhu Singh Mallah.
In Bhokerdhan in Maharashtra, Chandrakant Danve of the Nationalist Congress Party, a partner of the ruling coalition, defeated his nearest rival, BJP candidate Shivaji Thote, by a margin of 16,676 votes.
