*NEW DELHI: *Ahead of next year’s general elections, a united oppositiongot a major boost on Thursday when it delivered a huge blow to the BJP,defeating it in three out of four Lok Sabha Seats and nine out of tenAssembly seats as the results of which were announced on Thursday.
The BJP was defeated in the Lok Sabha seats.
Of the 10 assembly seats where by-polls were held last Thursday, the BJPscored just one in Uttarakhand while the Congress won Punjab’s Shahkot,Karnataka’s RR Nagar and Meghalaya’s Ampati that made it the single largestparty in the northeastern state. The Trinamool Congress won the Maheshtalaseat in West Bengal while the CPI-M candidate defeated a Congress rival inKerala’s Chengannur.
Jailed politician Lalu Prasad’s RJD defeated the ruling BJP and JDU’s jointcandidate in Bihar’s Jokihat assembly seat where it was more of a battle ofprestige for the former allies – the RJD and the JDU. RJD’s Shahnawaz Alambeat the JDU candidate by over 41,000 votes.
The Jokihat assembly seat was left vacant after the sitting JDU lawmakerquit the party and joined the RJD following Nitish Kumar’s decision to gowith the BJP last year.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bagged both the Assembly seats of Silli andGomia in the state.