BJP wins Haryana in by-polls: 10 facts you need to know
New Delhi : The ruling BJP government and Congress team is fighting over victory each new day just before the general election due by May 2019. After stalling over protests and allegations of electronic voting machine, finally BJP won by-polls in Haryana's Jind. The Congress won the Ramgarh election in Rajasthan, adding one more seat to its tally to touch the half-way mark of 100 in the 200-seat assembly. Congress candidate Saafiya Zubair won in Ramgarh; while, BJP's Krishan Middha won in Jind by over 15,000 votes.
Here are 10 key points which came alongside this big political win-win story.
1) The Congress now enjoys a simple majority in Rajasthan along with one member from its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal. Its tally of 100 in the 200-member assembly reduces its dependence on smaller parties.
2) As many as 20 candidates contested the Ramgarh election, which could not be held along with other constituencies due to the death of the BSP candidate Laxman Singh before the December 7 state polls.
3) The BJP has blamed its defeat on the BSP's candidate Jagat Singh, the son of former Congress leader Natwar Singh, cutting into its votes. Jagat Singh had quit the BJP over not being allowed to contest the seat.
4) The BJP fielded a virtually unknown Sukhwant Singh.
5) Ramgarh saw a polarised campaign as incidents of cow vigilantism and the lynching of a Muslim man - Rakbar Khan - last year, during the BJP's rule, dominated the discourse.
6) In Jind, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who is also the legislator from Kaithal, ended up as a poor number three.
7) The BJP candidate, Krishan Middha, is the son of two-time lawmaker Hari Chan Middha, whose death is the reason the bypolls were held.
8) The by-election was a test for not just the BJP and Congress but also the INLD and the new Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
9) The JJP's Digvijay Chautala led in the initial rounds of counting before dropping to the second position. Digvijay Chautala is the younger son of Ajay Singh Chautala, who broke away from his father OM Prakash Chautala's INLD and floated his party in December.
10) For the BJP, which rules Haryana, it is an important test for the Manohar Lal Khattar government ahead of the national election.