Adding to its triumph in Punjab and Uttaranchal assembly polls, Congresstoday cornered glory in the bypoll to six Lok Sabha and seven assemblyconstituencies winning six of them but suffered a setback in Karnataka whereformer Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda wrested Kanakapura parliamentary seat fromit.
Predictably, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa won the Andipatti assembly seat inTamil Nadu by 41,200 votes against her DMK nominee Vaigai Shekhar, a victorythat is set to bring her back to Chief Ministerial throne five months she quitit following a Supreme Court order.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendera Modi romed home in Rajkot Two assembly seatbut the state's ruling BJP suffered setback losing its hold on two of the threeassembly bypolls to Congress.
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The most remarkable victory of Congress in the bye-elections was that ofJyotriaditya Scindia, son of late party leader Madhavrao Scindia, fromGuna-Shivpuri parliamentary constituency defeating his nearest rival DeshrajSingh Yadav of BJP by a record margin of over four lakh votes.
In Assam, Congress is virtually certain to retain Kaliabor Lok Sabhaconstituency when Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's younger brother Deep Gogoiestablished a formidable lead of over 1,42,925 votes over his nearest rivalThogi Gogoi of BJP.
But a discordant note for Congress came in Karnataka when its candidate D KShiva Kumar, Cooperation Minister and a top aide of Chief Minister S M Krishna,lost to Deve Gowda of JD (S) by 53, 536 votes.
In Gujarat, Congress wrested Sayajiganj and Mahuva-ST seats from BJP withconvincing margins.
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However, Congress had to part with Yamunanagar assembly seat in Haryana whereruling Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) led by Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautalaemerged victorious.
Congress retained Arvi assembly seat in Wardha district of Maharashtra withparty nominee Amar Kale defeating his nearest rival M P Vijay Mude of BJP.
