Opposition Gains Ground in Bypolls
In a boost for the Opposition, the INDIA bloc secured six seats and leads in four as votes were counted for bypolls in 13 assembly seats across seven states on July 13, 2024. AAP’s Mohinder Bhagat won in Punjab’s Jalandhar West, defeating BJP’s Sheetal Angural by over 37,000 votes. Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s wife, Kamlesh Thakur, won the Dehra seat.
The Trinamool Congress clinched three seats in West Bengal and led in another. In Tamil Nadu, DMK’s Anniyur Siva led in Vikravandi. Congress led in Uttarakhand’s two seats and won in Himachal Pradesh’s Nalagarh. BJP secured Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh and led in Madhya Pradesh’s Amarwara.
The bypolls tested BJP, which won 240 seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections, needing allies to form a government, contrasting with its previous solo majorities.
