Manoj Kumar Mishra
The results of the by-elections to three Lok Sabha seats and seven assembly seats on June 26 have given different messages to political parties. BJP won Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav and Azam Khan, both the big leaders of SP, had left their seats to do politics of the state. Now after the defeat, questions are being raised on the election process itself. Aam Aadmi Party may be patting its back by winning Delhi’s Rajendra Nagar assembly seat, but after losing the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, it has lost its senses. Sangrur seat results are giving a different indication.
The celebrations on the victory of Delhi’s Rajendra Nagar assembly by-election have been reduced by the defeat of the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat. AAP was accused of taking support of separatists in the 2017 assembly elections and the assembly elections held in March this year. This allegation is said to have become a hindrance in not reaching power in 2017, while it helped AAP in getting power in this year’s elections.
The violent incidents in Punjab after coming to power gave an opportunity to question the capabilities of the AAP government. The result of Sangrur Lok Sabha seat is also being linked to this. By-elections were held for seven assembly seats. Tripura had the maximum number of elections for four seats. In the election, the BJP candidate won three seats including Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, Congress won one seat. Congress won Mandar seat in Jharkhand and YRS Congress won from Atmakur seat in Andhra Pradesh.
The result of Rajendra Nagar assembly by-election has again given concrete evidence of changing the political equation of Delhi. Before the delimitation of 2006, this seat was considered to be dominated by people of Pakistani origin who came after partition from Pakistan. After the delimitation, there has been a lot of change in the Rajendra Nagar assembly seat. That seat has a good population of Purvanchal (native to Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand etc.) and minorities. Despite this, the dominance of this seat has been dominated by the voters of Punjab origin. Only then the candidates of Punjab origin won all the seven elections held on this seat. BJP’s Puran Chandra Yogi continued to win Rajendra Nagar seat till 2003. In the 2020 election, AAP gave ticket to Raghav Chadha and he managed to win this seat.
In this by-election, BJP had fielded local and strong Punjabi leader Rajesh Bhatia as its candidate. Whose influence is also considered complete on non-Punjabi voters. AAP made a new experiment by fielding Durgesh Pathak of Purvanchal origin. Congress gave ticket to former councilor Premlata. The election results proved that now AAP has completely made the voters of Congress its own. This fact is being confirmed continuously since you came into existence. In the 2013 assembly elections, the Congress got eight seats and 24.50 percent of the votes.
No seats were found in the 2015 elections and the vote average was 9.7 per cent. In the 2020 assembly elections, it came down to 4.26 percent. In this by-election, Congress got 2.79 percent votes in 2014. Your victory has far-reaching meanings. This is AAP’s third consecutive victory on a seat considered to be BJP’s Rajendra Nagar. There could be many reasons for this victory, but it can be said with certainty that in Delhi, for whatever reason, you have come in a position to break all kinds of traditional political equations.
In the upcoming elections, AAP will fight in Delhi with the same strength as it fought in Rajendra Nagar. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had taken charge of the election. You have learned a lesson from the defeat of Sangrur but the victory of Rajendra Nagar has increased the enthusiasm. BJP is very excited by winning two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, in fact it is its big victory but the defeat of Rajendra Nagar assembly by-election has given it a big shock in Delhi. If the BJP does not manage this time, then it is going to face a more difficult challenge in the municipal elections. The results of these by-elections have given some indication to all the parties. Some party has got some setback somewhere.