Ruling BJP won the high-stakes Jind bypoll in Haryana on Thursday with party candidate Krishan Middha defeating his nearest rival, Digvijay Singh Chautala of JJP, by over 12,000 votes.
The BJP wrested the seat from the main opposition INLD, which was decimated in the by-election. Middha won by a margin of 12,935 votes, Jind Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer Amit Khatri said.
JJP was floated last month by Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala after a split in the INLD following a family feud. The Congress, which had fielded its senior leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, an MLA from Kaithal, ended up at the third spot. Middha (48) is a BAMS doctor, whose father's death necessitated the bypoll.
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After the results were announced, Surjewala congratulated Middha and said he had tried his best to fulfil the responsibility given to him by Congress party.
Earlier, during the counting of votes in Jind, the Haryana Police and paramilitary forces used canes to disperse protesters during a demonstration in Jind town
Protesters belonging to the newly launched Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) held the protests while alleging that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) had been tampered with.
As per reports, the serial numbers of two EVMs did not match with the list and this was objected to by one of the contesting candidates inside the counting centre.
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As the news reached the activists of various parties, the protest started in Jind town, around 190 km from here, following which the police was forced to take action to disperse them.
Police officials said the protests took place around 300 metres from the counting centre and did not affect the counting process.
The counting process was stopped for some time after the complaint regarding the EVMs but it was resumed later.
Ramgarh bypoll
Meanwhile, in the Ramgarh assembly by-election in Rajasthan, the Congress won with a margin of 12228 votes on Thursday. Congress candidate Shafia Zubair garnered a total of 83311 votes as against BJP's Suwant Singh, who got 71083 votes.
With the victory in Ramgarh, Congress reached the half-way mark of 100 in 200-seat Rajasthan assembly.
Zubair got 44.77 per cent votes by securing 83,311 votes while Singh secured 71,083 votes, the officials of the Rajasthan election department said.
BSP candidate and former union minister Natwar Singh's Son, Jagat Singh, was third. He secured 24,856 votes, they said.
As many as 20 candidates were in the fray in the Ramgarh election which was held on January 28.
The election to the assembly seat could not be held along with other constituencies due to death of the BSP candidate ahead of the December 7 Rajasthan elections.
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(with inputs from PTI and IANS)
