Ruling parties sweep bypolls as BJP bags Bengal seats, TVK wins in Tamil Nadu

Ruling parties won the byelections to five Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat in Assam.

The BJP won both Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly seats in West Bengal by a huge margin.

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The TVK’s candidates secured comfortable victories in Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies, while in Puducherry’s Thattanchavady, the ruling AINRC’s nominee won the bypoll.

In the Nagaon Lok Sabha seat, civil servant-turned-politician Devasish Sharma won by over 1.4 lakh votes. Welcoming the results, the BJP said democracy has won over “mobocracy”, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it showed yet again that the people have a deep-rooted connect with the good governance agenda of the BJP-NDA.

In Nandigram, BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath won by a record margin of over 1.22 lakh votes. The margin of victory of BJP candidate Shankharavh Sarkar at Rejinagar in Murshidabad district was over 75,000 votes.

Minority outreach

The results also pointed towards the success of the BJP’s efforts to reach out to minority voters as about 70% of the electorate in Rejinagar and 27% voters in Nandigram are Muslims. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the BJP received the support of 80% Muslims in Nandigram and over 60% in Rejinagar.

In Tamil Nadu, the ruling TVK improved its strength to 109 in the 234-member Assembly with both its candidates securing comfortable victories in the Madurantakam and Dharapuram reserved constituencies. Bypolls in these constituencies were necessitated by the resignation of AIADMK MLAs K. Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama, who later entered the fray on the ruling party’s ticket. While Ms. Kumaravel won by a margin of 20,040 votes, Ms. Sathyabama won by 9,471 votes. The DMK emerged runner-up in both seats, while the AIADMK came third.

In Puducherry’s Thattanchavady the ruling AINRC nominee won by 13,358 votes while the Congress candidate came second. The seat had fallen vacant as Chief Minister Rangasamy resigned after retaining another seat.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted videos of celebrations even before the formal declaration of results in Nagaon. All India United Democratic Front leader and former MP Mohammed Badruddin Ajmal finished second in Nagaon, while Congress candidate Sivamoni Bora came a distant third.

In Nagaon, the bypoll was called after Pradyut Bordoloi, who won the seat in 2024 on Congress ticket, quit the party and joined the BJP. In Nandigram, the bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who won two seats in the last Assembly election. He had defeated former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Bhabanipur and decided to retain the seat. In that election, Aam Janata Unnayan Party leader and former Minister Humayun Kabir won Rejinagar and Nowda seats. He retained Nowda, necessitating a bypoll in Rejinagar.