Cong's Pramod Jain Bhaya wins Anta bypoll in Rajasthan
Jaipur(PTI): Congress candidate Pramod Jain Bhaya won the Anta assembly bypoll in Rajasthan's Baran district with 69,571 votes, defeating his nearest rival and BJP nominee Morpal Suman by a margin of 15,612 votes, according to the Election Commission.
Suman got 53,959 votes, beating Independent candidate and Congress rebel Naresh Meena, who was initially in second place, by 159 votes in a tantalisingly close contest.
Bhaya maintained his lead throughout.
A total of 15 candidates were in the fray.
The bypoll was necessitated after BJP MLA Kanwar Lal Meena was disqualified following his conviction in a criminal case. Kanwar Lal Meena defeated Bhaya, the then minister in the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government, in the 2023 assembly polls.
Bhaya attributed his bypoll victory to a shift in voters' mood.
"In the last elections, people were misled by the BJP's assurances, but this time, they have blessed us with their trust," he told reporters in Baran.
Bhaya's victory comes as a shot in the arm for the Congress and an embarrassment for the ruling BJP.
"I salute the people of Anta for ensuring the Congress' victory. This was the BJP government's two-year test and it failed," Pradesh Congress Committee chief Govind Singh Dotasra said here.
"Voters have delivered a strong message ahead of the 2028 assembly elections. I am confident that the Congress will win the 2028 polls," he said.
Dotasra said Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma campaigned twice in Anta, ministers stayed there and senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje also had a camp in the constituency, but people voted for the Congress.
Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the bypoll result shows that anti-incumbency has set in against the BJP just two years after it came to power in the state.
"I extend my heartfelt thanks to all the voters for ensuring the Congress' victory in the Anta bypoll and hearty congratulations to the newly-elected MLA Pramod Jain Bhaya," Gehlot said.
The BJP government failed to highlight even a single concrete achievement, he said.
"The common man is deeply distressed due to the weakening of our popular public welfare schemes, and this result is people's stamp of approval on the schemes run by the previous Congress government," he said.
The Anta constituency, part of the politically volatile Hadoti belt -- a region long considered Raje's turf -- has a history of swinging between the BJP and the Congress. The BJP held the seat in 2013 and 2023, while Bhaya won it for the Congress in 2008 and 2018.
Raje's son and Jhalawar-Baran MP Dushyant Singh was also actively engaged in election management in the constituency.
Sharma and Raje together held roadshows in Anta and several ministers and senior BJP leaders also campaigned in the constituency. However, it appears they were not able to strike a chord with voters.
With Friday's result, BJP holds 118 seats in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, Congress 67, Bharat Adivasi Party four, Bahujan Samaj Party two and Rashtriya Lok Dal one.
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National Herald case: Shivakumar to seek time next week to appear before Delhi police
New Delhi/Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday said he will ask for time from Delhi police to appear before them next week, to provide required information as part of the probe into the National Herald case.
He said he will seek time after the ongoing winter session of Karnataka legislature ends on December 19. He will also ask the Delhi police to provide him the FIR copy.
Shivakumar, who is in the national capital, had earlier said that he will appear before the Delhi police on Monday. But, he postponed the plan in order to rush back to Karnataka to participate in the last rites of veteran Congress leader Shamanuru Shivashankarappa, scheduled later in the day in Davangere.
"I had to go (to appear before the Delhi police), but I have to go back urgently. I'm asking them for time, stating that I will come next week," Shivakumar told reporters in New Delhi.
"They (Delhi police) have not attached the FIR copy while issuing notice to me. I need FIR copy, because we had already given all the required replies to the ED. I don't know what the FIR says, I only read in papers. They have given notice, I will ask for a FIR copy. I will come next week after the Assembly session."
The Delhi Police had issued a notice to Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress chief, seeking financial and transactional details as part of its probe into the National Herald case.
The notice issued by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) states that Shivakumar is "supposed to be having vital information" pertaining to the National Herald case registered on October 3 this year, against top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
In the notice dated November 29, the EOW had asked Shivakumar to appear before it or provide the requested information by December 19 latest.
Investigators have sought details about his personal background, his association with the Congress party, and a complete break up of funds allegedly transferred by him or associated entities to Young Indian.
To a question on meeting AICC General Secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala, amid the ongoing power tussle between him and CM Siddaramaiah over the Chief Minister post, Shivakumar said when he comes to Delhi, he usually meets every one.
"Whether it is Surjewala or Kharge (AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge) or Venugopal, I will meet everyone. During lunch yesterday I met Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. I have met everyone. What's wrong?" he asked.
Shivakumar was in Delhi to take part in Congress' "Vote Chori" rally on Sunday, and had also participated in the lunch organised by the party for its leaders.
Responding to a question, whether any meeting is planned with leaders today, the Deputy CM said, he and Kharge will be travelling together to Karnataka, to pay last respects to Shamanuru Shivashankarappa.
Asked if he will seek time for a separate meeting with Congress leadership including Rahul Gandhi, during the next visit to Delhi, Sivakumar said, "such things will be there between us in the party.... you don't worry."
