New Delhi: The resounding win of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha elections has also reinstated the party in more than half of parliamentary seats lost in by-polls between 2014 and 2019.
According to the Election Commission of India's statistics, BJP had won only six out of 30 Lok Sabha by-polls held between 2014 and November 2018. However, the after results of 2019 general elections are out, the BJP has won back 12 of the seats the party had lost in the by-polls.
These Lok Sabha constituencies are Ratlam, Bangaon, Gurdaspur, Phulpur, Gorakhpur, Ajmer, Alwar, Araria, Bhandara-Gondiya, Kairana, Coochbehar, and Bellary. Phulpur and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, the two seats which were an issue of prestige for the BJP, were wrested from the opposition parties.
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After the General Elections in 2014, in the first year itself by-polls to the Lok Sabha were held in five constituencies out of which BJP retained two seats. In these five constituencies, the BJP won Beed and Vadodara but had failed to retain Odisha's Kandhamal, Telangana's Medak, and Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri seats.
In 2015, the by-polls were held in three constituencies including Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh where the BJP lost to the Congress. Two other constituencies -- Warangal and Bangaon -- were also won by other parties. BJP has wrested these seats in the recently held Lok Sabha polls.
In 2016, BJP retained Assam's Lakhimpur and MP's Shahdol parliamentary constituencies in by-polls whereas TMC and NPP won three other seats including Coochbehar, which has now gone to the BJP.
In 2017, BJP lost Gurdaspur to Congress in by-polls whereas three other constituencies that went to polls also brought no good news to the BJP. This time, Gurdaspur saw a resounding win of BJP's Sunny Deol.
The worst year for the BJP in terms of by-poll results was 2018. In March 2018, BJP lost in Phulpur and Gorakhpur parliamentary by-elections. Thereafter, the party lost by-polls in Ajmer and Alwar. Bihar's Araria parliamentary constituency also went to the poll, which was won by the RJD.
In 2019 LS polls, all these seats have gone to the BJP kitty. In May 2018, the by-elections to four Lok Sabha seats were held in Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra, Kairana Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, and Nagaland parliamentary constituency.
Among all these seats, BJP managed to win only Palghar Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra. The party won Bhandara-Gondiya and Kairana seats as well in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls.
In November last year, three parliamentary and two assembly seats in Karnataka went to by-polls. Congress-JDS alliance won four seats -- two Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats. BJP was able to hold on to Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency, which is considered the stronghold of its state chief, BS Yeddyurappa, but the party lost Bellary seat. BJP won back Bellary seat in the Lok Sabha polls.
With the official counting of the Lok Sabha elections over on Friday, the BJP has secured 303 seats, 22 more than the party got in the 2014 elections. The NDA's total tally went up to 352 in 17th Lok Sabha.
The NDA tally of 352 comprises 303 of BJP, 18 of Shiv Sena, 16 of JDU, six of Lok Janshakti Party, two each of Akali Dal and Apna Dal and one each of All Jharkhand Students Union, Loktantrik Party, Mizo National Front and National People's Party and one independent backed by the BJP in Karnataka.
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