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Akali Dal-Badal retains Tarn Taran, few surprises in by-poll results

Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) candidate Tirlochan Singh Tur won the Tarn Taran Lok Saba seat in Punjab defeating Congress rival Dilbagh Daleke by a margin of 172,000 votes. In the lone assembly seat from the state to go to polls, Sham Chaurashi, the Akali Dal-Badal candidate Mohinder Kaur defeated Santhosh Choudhary (Congress) by 9,362 votes. The Akali Dal retained the seat.

By-elections were held on Wednesday for three Lok Sabha -- Tarn Taran (Punjab), Mandi (Himachal Pradesh) and Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir) -- and 51 assembly seats spread over 13 states.

In Maharashtra, the Congress has won five and is leading in two other constituencies in the state assembly by-elections, leaving its rival the Sena-BJP combine in a disarray with just three seats so far.

Congress candidates retained most of their seats, and registered an impressive victory in Akkalkot, Mulshi, Kannad, Biloli and Dahanu, while they have established unsurpassable leads in Shinganapur and Ramtek constituencies.

The BJP, on the other hand, has fared dismally with only one seat, Satara, and gaining over its rivals in Rahuri. Its alliance partner, the Sena, with a solitary win of Kagal, has faced a near rout in the other assembly segments.

The Kagal assembly constituency in Kolhapur district, a Congress bastion and constituency of former Maharashtra minister and sitting MP Sadashivrao Mandlik, has been wrested for the first time by a Shiv Sena candidate. Sanjay Anandrao Ghatge won the by-election by 6,766 votes.

Ghatge defeated the Congress's Hassan Mushrif, who is also chairman of the Kolhapur District Central Co-operative Bank, in a three-cornered contest.

Ghatge, who recently joined the Sena and had contested the general election unsuccessfully, secured surplus votes in the Kagal assembly segment against Mandlik.

The by-election was necessitated following Mandlik's election as MP.

Sidharam Mhetre (Congress) won the Akkalkot seat defeating his BJP rival Mahananda Tanwade by 2,828 votes. The Congress wrested the seat from the BJP.

Tejasvini Jadhav (Congress) retained the Kannad assembly seat held by her late husband Raibhan Jadhav, defeating her nearest rival Subhas Patil (Sena) by 20,000 votes.

Congressman Krishna Ghoda has won the Dahanu assembly seat, defeating his nearest Sena rival Ishwar Ghodi by 15,197 votes.

The BJP's Udayrao Maharaj Bhosale won the Satara seat, defeating his nearest rival Shivendra Bhosale of the Congress by 8,004 votes.

With Kumar Gosavi of the Congress declared elected to the Mulshi assembly seat, the Congress has thus retained its stronghold in the constituency.

Gosavi defeated Rameshchandra Dhamale of the Sena in a straight contest, by 21,847 votes.

The Mulshi by-election was necessitated following the election of sitting legislator, Ashok Mohol of the Congress, to the Lok Sabha in the last general election.

Polling for the Mulshi seat was a lacklustre affair, with just 31.34 per cent of the electorate having exercised its franchise.

In Ramtek, Anandrao Deshmukh of the Congress has defeated the Sena's Shaish Jaiswal by 6,556 votes.

Two more results are yet to be declared from Maharashtra, that of Shinganapur and Rahuri. The BJP's Chandrashekar Kadam was leading against his nearest rival, Ramdas Dhumal of the Congress by 53 votes at the end of the second round of counting in the Rahuri assembly by-election.

In the first round, Kadam trailed the Congress candidate by 208 votes.

In Karnataka, the Congress won the Baindur assembly seat where its nominee Gopala Poojari trounced his nearest BJP rival Appanna Hegde by over 21,000 vottes. The BJP bagged the other seat of the two results declared in the state so far when its nominee, P H Poojari won from the Bagalkot seat defeating C V Koti (Congress) by 16,000 votes. The Congress was leading in Davangere, while the BJP was ahead in Uttarahalli. The Janata Dal was leading in Balloli (SC) and Mandya, while a party rebel was leading in Hunsur.

In Andhra Pradesh, the ruling Telugu Desam Party continued to surge ahead in Mummidivaram (SC), Attili and Andole (SC) while the Congress overtook the BJP in Metpalli at the end of the second round of counting.

The TDP candidates were leading by 12,500 votes in Atilli, by 6,500 votes in Mummidivaram (SC) and by 4,884 votes in Andole (SC) constituencies over their nearest Congress rivals.

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP was ahead in Nagina, Dildar Nagar, Madiyaon and Milkipur, while the BSP was leading in Chaubepur and Harora. The SP was ahead in Tulsipur.

In Kerala, Dr Sebastian Paul, an Independent backed by the ruling Left Democratic Front, was leading in Ernakulam over his Congress rival, Leno Jacob.

In Tripura, the ruling CPI-M retained the Kamalpur assembly seat, for which by-election was held on Wednesday, defeating the Congress by a margin of 9,704 votes.

An election department official told newsmen in Agartala today that the CPI-M nominee, Bijoy Laxmi Sinha secured 13,027 votes while her Congress rival, Sribash Chakraborty, bagged 3,323 votes.

Sinha, wife of assassinated health and family welfare minister Bimal Sinha, won the seat in a straight contest as the BJP candidate's nomination was rejected earlier.

The by-election was necessitated following the killing of Bimal Sinha along with his younger brother, by the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura on March 31.

With the election of Sinha to the 60-member House, the number of women MLAs has risen to three, all of them from the CPI-M. The present party position is: CPI-M -- 38, CPI -- one, RSP -- two, Congress -- 13, Tripura Upajati Juba Samity -- 4, the Tripura National Volunteers --one and independent one.

The TUJS and the TNV are both state parties, and political allies of the Congress party.

UNI

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