"...These by-elections which were held on 13 seats are very important. For the second time in one and a half months, the people of the country gave a strong message to the BJP. The message was very clear in the Lok Sabha elections... In Uttarakhand, we won both our seats, Badrinath and Manglaur. In Himachal Pradesh, Congress won 2 out of 3 seats...And if you assess all 13 seats in total, BJP got only 2..."
The Congress on Saturday hailed its gains in the assembly bypolls in Himachal Pradesh and BJP-ruled Uttarakhand, saying the results "reflect the changing political climate in the country".
The Congress won both the assembly bypolls in Uttarakhand and in Himachal Pradesh, it secured two out of the three seats where bye-elections were held.
On the party's victories in Uttarakhand, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a post on 'X', said, "Manglaur was wrested from the BSP and in the face of dirty tactics by the BJP. In Badrinath, the sitting MLA was a Congressman who had switched to the BJP during the Lok Sabha polls. He has been rightly punished by the people and the Congress has held on to the seat."
"Both ways the results reflect the changing political climate in the country," he said.
The ruling JD(U) and opposition RJD were pushed to margin in the electoral race in Rupauli assembly seat of Bihar on Saturday, as Independent candidate Shankar Singh won the seat with 68070 votes. JD(U) candidate Kaladhar Prasad Mandal came second while RJD candidate Bima Bharti was pushed to third position.
Congress candidate Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin, who secured 31,727 votes, has won the Manglaur seat in Uttarkhand.
After the completion of all 21 rounds of voting, BJP candidate Kamlesg Pratap Shah won the Amarwara assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh with 83105 votes, with nearest rival and Congress candidate Manas Kumar Ghosh trailing by over 3,027 votes.