Bypoll results: Congress registers record victory in BJP bastion of Gurdaspur, IUML retains Vengara assembly seat

The bypoll results of Gurdaspur Lok Sabha and Vengara Assembly seats brought good news for Congress and its allies on Sunday.

Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar made a comeback by winning the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll by a huge margin after losing to BJP in 2014 elections. 

 While, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) a key partner of Congress-led UDF Opposition in Kerala retained the Vengara Assembly seat by defeating its CPI-M candidate in the bypoll.   

In Gurdaspur bypoll, Jakhar, a close confidant of Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, trumped his BJP rival Swaran Salaria by a margin 1.93 lakh votes. 

Polling for Lok Sabha seat was necessitated after the BJP’s sitting MP Vinod  Khanna died of cancer at a hospital in Mumbai on April 27 this year. The BJP leader had represented Gurdaspur constituency in Lok Sabha earlier between 1998-2009 and 2014–2017.

While in Kerala, IUML candidate K N A Khader won the Vengara seat defeating CPI-M's P P Basheer by 23,310 votes.

The constituency had recorded a 72.12 percentage voter turnout during the by-election held on October 11.  

The by-election was necessitated for the seat after sitting MLA P K Kunhalikutty quit following his election to parliament from Malappuram Lok Sabha segment that fell vacant after the death of IUML leader and former union minister E Ahmed in February last.

Also read| Gurdaspur by-poll win ‘a very good sign emerging on national scene' for Congress: Punjab CM

Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu after the result announcement said the win was a Diwali gift for Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.

Also read: Punjab by-election: Congress trounces BJP to take back Gurdaspur

"We have sent a beautiful Diwali gift packed with red ribbon to our would-be president Rahul Gandhi because it sets the tone,” he said.