India's ruling party BJP suffers electoral blows
Xinhua,February 01, 2018 Adjust font size:
NEW DELHI, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- India's main ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday suffered defeats in the by-elections held recently in the country's western state of Rajasthan and eastern state of West Bengal.
The results of the three parliamentary and two state Assemblies' by-elections were announced Thursday. Voting took place on Jan. 29.
The ruling party in West Bengal -- the Trinamool Congress' candidate Sajda Ahmed won the "Uluberia" Lok Sabha by-poll by over 470,000 lakh votes, while the BJP's candidate stood a distant second. The Trinamool Congress also won the "Noapara" Assembly constituency while the BJP's candidate suffered defeat by a margin of over 60,000 votes.
Candidates of the country's main opposition party -- the Indian National Congress (INC) -- Karan Singh Yadav led by 164,107 votes in Alwar parliamentary constituency, and Raghu Sharma leading by 83,096 votes in Ajmer parliamentary constituency in the state of Rajasthan.
BJP's defeats in the by-polls are described as an eye-opener for the BJP even as the state of Rajasthan, where the party is currently running the government, goes to polls later this year. In the 2014 parliament election the BJP had won in all the 25 constituencies. Enditem