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A crowd gathers during the counting of votes for by-election in Jind on Thursday. (PTI)[/caption]
Jind (Har), Jan. 31 (PTI/IANS): Ruling BJP on Thursday won the high-stakes Jind bypoll, which also saw the newly floated JJP scoring convincingly higher than the parent party INLD and Congress candidate Randeep Singh Surjewala settling for the third spot.
BJP nominee Krishan Middha (48) wrested the seat from the main opposition Indian National Lok Dal, forcing it to the fifth place.
The Jannayak Janata Party, which broke away from the INLD just weeks ago following a feud in the Chautala family, put up a spirited fight and finished second.
The BJP candidate defeated JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala (27) by 12,935 votes, Jind Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer Amit Khatri said.
The bypoll was ordered after the death of Middha's father, INLD's Hari Chand Middha.
Out of 1,30,828 votes polled, Middha secured 50,556 against Digvijay Chautala's 37,631.Randeep Singh Surjewal, a spokesperson for the Congress and its MLA from Kaithal in Haryana, got 22,740 votes.
At fifth place, INLD candidate Umed Singh Redhu ended up not only behind the JJP but also trailed another new outfit the Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) led by BJP's rebel MP Raj Kumar Saini.
Redhu managed just 3,454 votes and forfeited his security deposit. LSP candidate Vinod Ashri polled 13,582 votes.
The JJP was floated last month by jailed leader Ajay Singh Chautala, following a feud with his brother Abhay Chautala. The JJP candidate is Ajay Chautala son and a grandson of Om Prakash Chautala.
The winning BJP candidate Krishan Middha is an Ayurvedic doctor and belongs to the Punjabi community. The Congress, the JJP and the INLD had put up candidates from the Jat community.
The victory triggered celebrations in the Bharatiya Janata Party camp, already upbeat after securing wins recently in the mayoral polls in five Haryana cities.
As the trends from the counting of votes came in, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the people had given a mandate for the BJP government's transparent policies and the corruption-free, all-round development of the state.
He said the BJP would win all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.
The bypoll was particularly important for the newly-floated JJP, which as keen to make its mark after the split.
Digvijay Chautala said the number of votes secured by him was proof enough of the tremendous support we have got from the people here .
The by-election ended up as a disappointment for the Congress which fielded prominent leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.
Surjewala said the Congress will put up an impressive performance in the coming Lok Sabha polls and form the government at the Centre.
Digvijay Chautala maintained a lead up to the third round of counting when votes from the mainly rural segments were being considered.
But Middha bounced back and took the lead in the subsequent rounds.
Middha's father Hari Chand Middha had twice represented the Jind assembly segment for the INLD. But the son joined the BJP recently.
The counting process was halted briefly during the seventh round when polling agents from of the LSP and the JJP alleged that there was a mismatch in serial numbers of two EVMs.
Police wielded canes to disperse workers from the two opposition parties after they created a ruckus outside the counting centre.
Jind Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer Amit Khatri rejected the allegation over the EVMs, saying there had been a clerical issue .
Twenty-one candidates, including two women, had contested the January 28 bypoll, dubbed a prestige battle for the main parties ahead of the parliamentary and assembly polls.
The election recorded a turnout of 75.77%.
The Congress on Thursday won the Ramgarh Assembly seat in Rajasthan, taking its tally in the 200-member house to 100.
Congress candidate Shafia Khan won by a margin of 12,228 votes after polling 83,311 votes. Her nearest rival, BJP's Sukhwant Singh, got 71,083 votes.
Jagat Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) finished third with 24,856 votes.
An overjoyed Shafia Khan said: "This is a victory of the people. I congratulate the people for this victory.
"The BJP talks too much and does little. They closed the schools which we had started, they were biased in implementing the social welfare schemes and hence people wanted to come out of the polarized environment they had created.
"So people have voted unitedly for the Congress," she added.
While Shafia Khan got 44.77 per cent of all votes, the BJP's vote share was 38.20 per cent.
Overall, 241 votes went to NOTA (None of the Above).
Senior Congress leader Suresh Chaudhary told IANS: "The Congress has built its credibility amongst voters by fulfilling all its promises made in its manifesto. People in the state are fed up with the polarization prank being played by the BJP.
"This broad margin of victory speaks the story," he said.
Counting of votes was held at the Babu Shobharam Government Arts College in Alwar amid tight security, said Ramgarh Returning Officer Pankaj Sharma.
The election on this seat was scheduled on December 7 along with the rest of Rajasthan Assembly seats but was postponed after BSP candidate Laxman Singh died due to cardiac arrest.
Eventually, polling was held on January 28 with a high voter turnout.
There are 20 candidates in the fray but the main contest involved Shafia Khan, Sukhwant Singh and Jagat Singh.
The Congress aimed to win the seat to hit a century mark in the 200-member House. This win will limit its dependency on anti-BJP parties.
