Ruling Parties Face Setbacks as Opposition Claims Key Victories in India's Assembly Bypolls

In recent assembly bypolls conducted across eight constituencies on November 11, ruling parties faced significant setbacks, losing four seats. The Congress secured victories in BJP-governed Rajasthan and in Telangana, while the People's Democratic Party (PDP) delivered a historic defeat to the National Conference (NC) in its Budgam stronghold in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed the Nagrota seat in Jammu and Kashmir, while the opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) successfully retained the Dampa assembly seat in Mizoram. MNF candidate R Lalthangliana narrowly defeated Zoram People's Movement's Vanlalsailova by 562 votes.

The eight bypolls were held across diverse constituencies including Anta (Rajasthan), Ghatshila (Jharkhand), Jubilee Hills (Telangana), Tarn Taran (Punjab), Nuapada (Odisha), Nagrota and Budgam (both in Jammu and Kashmir), and Dampa (Mizoram).

In the final tally, Congress and BJP each secured two seats, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) won one seat each.

BJP's Jay Dholakia achieved a commanding victory in Odisha's Nuapada, defeating Congress candidate Ghasi Ram Majhi by an impressive margin of 83,748 votes. Jay is the son of late BJD MLA Rajendra Dholakia, whose passing necessitated the bypoll.

In Nagrota, BJP candidate Devyani Rana, daughter of former MLA Devender Singh Rana, defeated Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party's Harsh Dev Singh by 24,647 votes. The National Conference candidate Shamim Begum performed poorly, losing her deposit after securing only 10,872 votes.

The most notable upset occurred in Budgam, where PDP's Aga Syed Muntazir defeated the ruling NC candidate Aga Syed Mehmood by 4,478 votes. This marks a historic defeat for the National Conference, which had never lost in Budgam since the first legislative assembly elections in 1957. The bypoll became necessary after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated the seat in favor of his family's traditional Ganderbal constituency following his dual victory in last year's assembly elections.

Congress celebrated victories in Rajasthan's Anta constituency and Telangana's Jubilee Hills. In Anta, Pramod Jain Bhaya defeated BJP's Morpal Suman by 15,612 votes in a seat that opened after BJP MLA Kanwar Lal Meena's disqualification following a criminal conviction.

In Jubilee Hills, Congress candidate V Naveen Yadav secured a victory over BRS rival Maganti Sunitha by 24,729 votes. This bypoll was necessitated by the death of BRS MLA Maganti Gopinath in June.

The AAP successfully retained the Tarn Taran assembly seat in Punjab with Harmeet Singh Sandhu defeating Shiromani Akali Dal's Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa by 12,091 votes. This seat had become vacant following the death of AAP MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal in June.

In Jharkhand's Ghatshila constituency, JMM candidate Somesh Chandra Soren, son of the late MLA Ramdas Soren, defeated BJP's Babulal Soren by over 38,500 votes.

The Dampa seat in Mizoram had fallen vacant following the death of incumbent MNF legislator Lalrintluanga Sailo on July 21, leading to the recent bypoll.