Ruling parties in three states and a Union Territory won the bye-elections to five assembly seats and one parliamentary constituency for which results were announced on Friday.
In Tamil Nadu, chief minister Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) won the two seats that were contested, while NDA partner All India NR Congress (AINRC) retained the one Puducherry seat where by-elections were held. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept both seats that went to bypolls in West Bengal, as well as the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam.
The BJP’s Hasirani Rath defeated Congress candidate Milan Pradhan by 122,753 votes in Nandigram, a seat Adhikari had held since 2016. In Puducherry, the ruling AINRC won the Thattanchavady constituency, where the bypoll was necessitated after chief minister N Rangasamy resigned from the seat following his victory from Mangalam in the April 9 assembly elections. The AINRC fielded his close confidante and former legislator Ashok Anand, who defeated Congress candidate E Vinayagam by 8,482 votes.
Adhikari won from two constituencies in the recent assembly polls but opted to retain Bhabanipur, from where he defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee had announced support for the Congress candidate after her pick, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew her nomination days before voting took place. “I congratulate the victorious BJP candidates and also applaud the hardwork of our party karyakartas. This mandate will give us added strength as we work tirelessly for the welfare of the people and to fulfil their aspirations for a brighter and more prosperous future,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X. Former chief minister MK Stalin, whose DMK finished second in both contests, hit out at Vijay. AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami accused the ruling party of using its power to secure victory.
“We will continue our daily campaign to tear off the mask of Chief Minister Vijay , who used cinematic charisma as capital to deceive the people, come into power, and run a government as a puppet for a few corporate mafias,” he said. “In this by-election, the ruling TVK deployed all its ministers alongside money power, official power, and muscle power,” he said.
