Gopalganj By-Poll 2022 Result: In democracy any party or individual has the right to contest elections. However, how BJP is benefited in multi-cornered contest became evident once again when the by election result in Gopalganj was announced Sunday.
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kusum Devi and Mohan Prasad Gupta of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) were in a neck-n-neck battle in Gopalganj – one of only few Saffron stronghold in Bihar.
The Gopalganj Assembly seat has been under the BJP's control for almost 20 years. The seat fell vacant after Subhash Singh, BJP MLA from here, died.
The by-election in Gopalganj was also important as it was the first election BJP was contesting after its alliance was Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) was broken.
It was therefore a prestige issue for the BJP to retain the seat.
The BJP had fielded Kusum Devi, Subhash Singh’s wife, in the Goplaganj by-poll, and put in all effort to retain the seat.
But, when the result was announced the BJP had lost the Gopalganj seat but for Mayawati’s BSP and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM.
According to the final result announced by the state election commission, the BSP and AIMIM candidates together polled more than 20,000 votes whereas the victory margin was less than 2,000 votes.
The result data showed, Kusum Devi of BJP bagged 70,053 votes and Mohan Prasad Gupta of RJD polled 68,259 votes.
The final result is RJD candidate lost the election by a meagre 1,794 votes.
Now look at the votes polled by the BSP and AIMIM candidates.
According to the election commission data, Indira Yadav of BSP secured 8,854 votes whereas Abdul Salam of AIMIM got 12,214 votes – a total tally of 21,068, which is more than 10 times the victory margin of the BJP candidate Kusum Devi.
Interestingly, Indira Yadav who contested on BSP ticket is wife of Sadhu Yadav - Lalu Prasad Yadav's brother-in-law. Sadhu Yadav's relation with Lalu and his family is under strain.
One reason why MIM candidates got such a huge vote is Hena Shahab - former MP and RJD leader Mohammed Shahabuddin's wife. Shahabuddin died in May 2021 due to Covid-19 while serving jail term.
It is said Hena Shahab is upset with the RJD leadership as it denied her a Rajya Sabha seat. It is said Shahabuddin's supporters voted in a huge number for the AIMIM candidate in Gopalganj.
The result of Gopalganj by-election today is a repeat of 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections when Mayawati’s BSP and Asauddin Owaisi’s AIMIM had similarly helped the BJP to win at least 31 seats.
There was a solace for RJD though as it comfortably retained the Mokama assembly seat where the by-election was held along with Gopalganj.
Elsewhere in the country, TRS was able to win the Munugode seat defeating Congress rebel Rajagopal Reddy who had defected to the BJP and was seeking re-election.
The BJP has also won in Gopalganj (Bihar), Gola Gokarannath (Uttar Pradesh), Adampur (Haryana) and Dhamnagar (Odisha).
On the other hand, in Andheri East, the lone seat in Maharashtra where the by-election was held, was retained by Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT).
Meanwhile, after the Gopalganj election result the allegations that Asaduddin Owaisi and Mayawati contest the elections to benefit the BJP will once again be made.
However the other aspect of the poll result is also this question. Why the so-called secular parties if they are indeed interested in defeating the BJP do not accommodate and tie-up with Owaisi and Mayawati to make their alliance stronger? And if they do not, then this division of votes will continue.
Because, in democracy everyone has the right to .......
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