The Hindu : National : BJP bags Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat

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Wednesday, Jun 06, 2007
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BJP bags Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat

Congress gets majority in Manipur after winning two Assembly seats

New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday retained the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh and romped home in two Assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh while the Congress bagged four Assembly seats, including two in Manipur, giving it a majority in the State where it heads a coalition government.

An independent emerged victorious in Jharkhand as results of one Lok Sabha and seven Assembly by-elections held in six States on June 2 poured in.

With victories in both the bypolls in Manipur, the strength of the Congress, a dominant partner in the ruling Secular Progressive Front Ministry, rose to 31 in the 60-seat House.

In Himachal Pradesh, the former Chief Minister and BJP leader, Prem Kumar Dhumal, pocketed the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat trouncing Ram Lal Thakur of the Congress by over 80,000 votes.

Mr. Thakur, Himachal Forest Minister, quit the post owning moral responsibility for the defeat.

The BJP's victory is seen as a shot in the arm for the saffron party ahead of Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh early next year.

The by-election was necessitated by the expulsion of BJP MP Suresh Chandel in the wake of the cash-for-query scam.

Jolt for BJP

The saffron party, however, suffered a jolt in Madhya Pradesh where the Congress wrested the Shivpuri Assembly seat from it.

Virendra Singh Raghuvanshi (Congress) humbled BJP's Ganesh Gautam by 7,781 votes in the bypoll which arose after the saffron party's Yashodhara Raje Scindia vacated the seat following her election to the Lok Sabha from Gwalior.

Humbled

In Chhattisgarh, the ruling BJP wrested Khairagarh and Malkharoda Assembly seats from the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Komal Janghel defeated his Congress rival Padma Devi by over 15,900 votes in Khairagarh while in Malkharoda, Nirmal Sinha humbled Mohan Mani of the Congress by a margin of 21,987 votes.

Inder Singh Namdhari, an Independent, retained the Daltonganj seat in Jharkhand defeating Anil Kumar Chowrasia of the All-Jharkhand Students' Union by 10,191 votes.

The Congress walked away with the victory in Ullal in Karnataka which saw a friendly fight between the ruling partners BJP and JD (S).

Apparently riding on a sympathy wave, U.T. Khader (Congress), son of U.T. Fareed, whose death necessitated the bypoll, defeated BJP's Chandrasekhar Uchil by 8,032 votes.

In Manipur, Congress nominees Th Lokeshore Singh and O Landhoni Devi, wife of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, emerged triumphant in Khundrakpam and Khnagabok seats. — PTI

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