The assembly bypolls for six seats in five states have seen setbacks for ruling parties in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Jharkhand. In Maharashtra, the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde) alliance managed to retain the Chinchwad assembly bypoll but lost Kasba.

Ashwini Jagtap of BJP managed to retain Chinchwad, held by her late husband Laxman Jagtap. Ashwini secured 1.35 lakh votes and her nearest rival, NCP candidate Nana Kate, got 99,000 votes. Rebel NCP candidate Rahul Kalate polled 40,000 votes more than the victory margin. However, there was no such luck for BJP in Kasba, where Congress candidate Dhangekar Hemraj defeated BJP’s candidate Hemant Rasane by more than 11,000 votes. The seat was held by BJP since 1995. The Congress candidate was supported by MVA partners NCP and Shiv Sena (Thackeray).

In West Bengal, the Left-Congress alliance candidate Bayron Biswas sprung a surprise on the Trinamool Congress and main Opposition BJP by winning the Sagardighi. Trinamool Congress’ Debasish Banerjee lost the seat it held by 22,980 votes. The by-poll was necessitated following the death of Subrata Saha, a minister in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet who had won from seat thrice.

Congress suffered a setback in Jharkhand, where the All Jharkhand Students Union candidate Sunita Choudhary defeated Bajrang Mahto by 21,970 votes. The by-poll was necessitated following the disqualification of Congress MLA Mamta Devi, convicted in a criminal case. . AJSU was supported by BJP in the bypoll.