UPA draws a bypoll blank

A resounding defeat in the Hisar Lok Sabha bypoll and losses in all three Assembly constituencies in four states came as a severe setback to the beleaguered UPA and the Congress today.

While the defeat of Congress candidate Jai Prakash in Hisar was a foregone conclusion, losses in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra (of its ally, the NCP) and Bihar signalled the party's continuing downslide.

The party put up a brave face arguing that it did not have any of these seats earlier but the writing was clear on the wall. Its candidate in Hisar, Jai Prakash, came third, losing his security deposit. He got around 1.50 lakh votes, which was 54,000 less than what he had got in the 2009 Lok Sabha election in which he had also come third. Incidentally, Sampat Singh, who had secured 2.41 lakh votes as INLD candidate in 2009 general election, had joined the Congress later but obviously could not bring the supporters along.

Congress general secretary in charge of Haryana B K Hari Prasad, however, sought to downplay the party's dismal show in Hisar saying that it was "not unexpected" as it had lost the seat in 2009, too. He rejected the contention that the result had anything to do with Team Anna's campaign against the Congress candidate. Hari Prasad said that the "sympathy factor" following the demise of Bhajan Lal, who represented the constituency, also played a role.

"The party's loss in elections is always a sad thing. And we shall have to analyse why we have lost. But just now it is not possible for me to make an instant comment," said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) candidate Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy won the Banswada Assembly bypoll by defeating Congress candidate Srinivas Goud by a margin of around 50,000 votes. The bypoll had been necessitated by the resignation of Pocharam who had quit his Assembly membership and also the membership of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on the issue of statehood for Telangana.

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