A major blow to the BJP, the INDIA bloc defeated it this time, also winning 10 out of 13 assembly seats in the recent by-election witnessed in many states. As for the other Assembly seats of Kheri, out of 4, the BJP lost three to the SP, and the remaining one was taken by an Independent candidate.
The political leaders of the opposition welcomed the people’s verdict as an ouster of BJP policies; SP MP Ram Gopal Yadav pointed out the wins of the BJP in regions previously associated with Hinduism.
‘Actually, looking at margins, even in these states, BJP has emerged victorious, but the margins are slender, and this, if one may say, is an indication that the party is actually losing ground,’ Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha.
Sandeep Dikshit of the Congress saw the slowdown as the BJP’s “multiple organ failure” and said the party will barely be able to cross 120 in the next Lok Sabha elections. P Chidambaram, a senior Congress leader, stated that on its part, the INDIA bloc will largely become more popular, while Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi suggested not to call it a victory;
The by-elections took place in states such as Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, and others, and the INDIA bloc parties, the Trinamool Congress, Congress, AAP, and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, won.
