Gains in weaker areas in by-elections give Congress reason to smile | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: After defying predictions of LS doom in the polls, Congress Saturday achieved major victories in the meeting mid-term elections in the hill states of Himachal and Uttarakhand, where the upward trend has been reinforced after a decade of decline.
In the 2024 assembly polls, the BJP won all nine seats in the two states in a head-to-head fight with the Congress. But within a month, Congress won Badrinath (Lakhpat Singh Butola) and Manglaur (Qazi Nizamuddin) in Uttarakhand and bagged two of the three seats in Himachal. The significance of the victories is evident from the fact that the Congress suffered a major defeat in the 2022 assembly polls in Uttarakhand despite a sharp rise in its favour, allowing the BJP to defy the state’s “revolving door” politics. The Congress has not won anything there since. Crucially, the Badrinath election was necessitated by Congress MP Rajendra Bhandari’s switch to the BJP in the LS assembly polls.
The HP victories are even sweeter for the Sukhvinder The Sukhu-led Congress, which survived a major shock after six MLAs voted to defeat the party’s RS candidate Abhishek Singhvi in ​​February, raising questions about the state government’s survival. The Congress managed to win four of the six by-elections, along with the LS elections. The three by-elections on Saturday were the result of independents’ decision to align themselves with the BJP. The resilience shown by the Congress in Himachal will certainly hurt the BJP, which sensed that by-election victories could pave the way for another attempt at the Sukhu government.
Overall, the Congress is excited about its gains in weaker areas, coupled with the realisation that voters finally seem to be responding to the realities of the day rather than being swayed by the BJP’s rhetoric and personality politics under Modi. The Congress has also gained a major bragging point with its victory in the temple town of Badrinath, following the SP’s victory in Ayodhya (Faizabad) in the LS election. Observers said voters are irritated by the massive redevelopment project undertaken in Badrinath, leaving locals worried about their livelihoods due to demolitions and displacement. Bhandari’s “anti-Brahmin tirade” is also said to have alienated the BJP’s core voters.