OPINION | Byelection results have nothing to do with Modi’s popularity or price rise

Byelections usually act as straws in the wind before a state assembly election or Lok Sabha elections take place. On Tuesday, results for 3 Lok Sabha seats and 29 assembly seats across India came as a mixed bag for both BJP and the Congress. Nevertheless, the results could be pointers for political developments that are going to take place in the coming months.   Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress made a clean sweep of all four assembly seats in Bengal, while Assam BJP led by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma scored emphatic wins for his alliance on all the five assembly seats. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan showed that he still continues to have a grip over Madhya Pradesh voters, winning the Khandwa Lok Sabha seat and two assembly seats. In Rajasthan, chief minister Ashok Gehlot led from the front and the Congress won both assembly seats. In Karnataka, BJP won one and lost the other assembly seat.   The most crucial results came from Bihar, where the ruling Janata Dal (United) led by chief minister Nitish Kumar won both the assembly seats in tough contests, despite campaigning by RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is presently out of jail. Shiv Sena opened its account for the first time outside Maharashtra winning the Dadra Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat.   For a political observer, it is not important which party won how many seats, but it is significant which party won which seat. Lalu Prasad Yadav had hoped that he could make life hell for Nitish Kumar, had he won both the assembly seats, but he came a cropper. Mamata Banerjee won seats by big margins in Bengal, which the BJP had won six months ago during the state assembly polls. 

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