Bypoll trends: One all for BJP, Shiv Sena and Cong in LS seats

New Delhi:  The BJP, Congress and the Shiv Sena were leading in one Lok Sabha seat each, and assembly segments threw up a similar mixed bag with trends favouring ruling parties in several states as votes were counted on Tuesday for a crucial by-election contest across 13 states.
Polling for three parliamentary seats and 29 assembly constituencies were held on October 30, an exercise being seen as a barometer of the political mood in the country ahead of assembly elections in politically critical Uttar Pradesh as well as other states.
Though there was no discernible wave, some states stood out. Voters in Assam and West Bengal, for instance, gave a decisive thumb’s up to the ruling alliances. And in Himachal Pradesh, the ruling BJP was headed for an upset with the opposition Congress looking set to gain.
In the Lok Sabha by-elections, an emotional connect seemed to give an edge to candidates in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, according to trends on the Election Commission website.
Opposition Congress’ Pratibha Singh, late chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife, was ahead of her nearest rival, Kargil war hero and BJP candidate Brigadier (retd) Khushal Thakur in Mandi. And Shiv Sena’s Kalaben Delkar, the wife of former independent MP, the late Mohan Delkar, took a decisive lead in the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seat.
In the parliamentary seat of Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP’s Gyaneshwar Patil was ahead of his Congress rival Rajnarayan Singh Purni.