By Dr. Gyan Pathak
The byelection results of the five assembly constituencies – Thattanchavady in Puducherry, Madurantakam and Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu, and Rejinagar and Nandigram in West Bengal, along with Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency in Assam, have given clear signal that regional parties of the country still hold central position in the Indian politics. As for national political parties, BJP’s gain in West Bengal still does signal its consolidation, which has become doubtful after reports of largescale rigging, while Congress’ loss in Assam signals continuance of its vulnerability to political poaching by the BJP.
All India NR Congress (AINRC) has won the Thattanchavaday Legislative Assembly. Ashok Anand of AINRC, backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) won the seat by a margin of 8,482 votes defeating its nearest rival E Vinayagam of Indian National Congress (INC). Ashok Anand of AINRC got 13358 votes as against 4876 bagged by INC candidate E Vinayagam, while Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate K Sethu @ Sethuselvam could get only 2664 votes.
AINRC chief and CM N Rangaswami had won this seat in the April 2026 election by bagging 10,024 votes as against 5,583 votes polled by NMK’s E Vinayagan. Winning margin was 4,441. This additional seat was vacated by Rangaswami which necessitated this byelection. AINRC has not only able to get more votes but is also able to double its margin. AINRC is a regional party growing stronger than the national parties, and BJP is its junior ally in the state. It shows that the political situation in Puducherry is going against INDIA bloc, which dwindling voter share of E Vinayagam suggests.
Politics in Tamil Nadu also shows that CM Chandrasekaran Joseph Vijay led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has been able to consolidate its position over April 2026 assembly election result, but with significant warning about its position on the ground level, as far as support base is concerned.
It should be noted that the bypolls on these two legislative assemblies Madurantakam and Dharapuram, were necessitated because of resignation of AIADMK legislators who joined TVK and contested again under TVK’s banner. In Madurantakam, AIADMK got 69,284 votes against runner up TVK’s 62,090 votes in April 2026 result. Now both the parties have joined hands but its candidate failed to gain much less votes. TVK’s Maragatham Kumaravel failed to significantly transfer the AIADMK’s votes, while DMK has emerged at the second position. AIADMK still has considerable share of votes. DMK is regaining its strength, that should be real concern for TVK.
In Dharampuram DMK was the runner up bagging 64,373 votes as against 81,100 by AIADMK in April 2026 election. On this seat also, P. Sathyabama of TVK could not fetch AIADMK support base in his favour. The results show that DMK’s support base is intact, while AIADMK has been losing its ground.
Both the results in Madurantakam and Dharampuram show that regional parties are still central in the state and also for national politics, and the national political parties like Congress and BJP will have to remain junior allies in the state.
In West Bengal’s Rejinagar and Nandigram seats, BJP has emerged stronger, and at first glance on the share of votes it looks like it has consolidated its position after the April-May 2026 election gains. In Nandigram, BJP candidate Hasirani Rath, the mother of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvedhu Adhikari’s slain personal assistant Chandranath Rath has been leading with a huge margin. It is clear signal of sympathy votes, and can’t be considered as consolidation of BJP over its gain in April-May 2026 results. Moreover, there has been reports of large scale rigging, which makes the consolidation claim of the BJP questionable. The seat carried additional significance for Adhikari, since he had vacated this seat after winning it in the last general election 2026.
Even in Muslim-majority Rejinagar, BJP candidate Shankharevh Sarkar has been leading with considerable margin. BJP has started celebrating their win. Nevertheless, reports of large scale rigging makes the gains of the BJP questionable. It was reported that many Muslim voters were just not allowed to vote.
In any case, BJP’s electoral gain in both the seats is significant, because it shows stronger grip of BJP on electorate and administration. It is a serious concern for the opposition INDIA bloc parties – Mamata TMC, Left front, and the Congress – which are currently agitating over the irregularities committed by CEC and ECI during SIR, which allegedly helped the BJP to win the general assembly election 2026 and throwing TMC out of power.
BJP’s consolidation is also seen in Assam’s Nagaon Lok Sabha byelection. This seat was won by Congress in both the Lok Sabah election 2019 and 2024. The vacancy arose after Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi left Congress and joined BJP. Devasish Sharma of BJP gained a huge margin against its rival AIUDF candidate Mohammed Badruddin Ajmal. Congress candidate Sibamoni Bora is a distant third. It is clear that BJP has further consolidated its position in Assam, while Congress has hugely lost its support base. The regional party AIUDF has become stronger that Congress, signalling that Congress or INDIA bloc needs to ally with the regional parties to take on the BJP.
Another signal for Congress from Assam and West Bengal is that it needs to protect its flock against the BJP’s poaching. It also holds good for regional party like Mamata TMC in West Bengal. These byelection results have lesson for the INDIA bloc – they can’t take on BJP without making it stronger and bringing more opposition parties into its fold. (IPA Service)
