BJP shines in Uttarakhand, MP

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday managed to secure a majority on its own in Uttarakhand by retaining the by-election to the Vikasnagar assembly seat.

With this, the saffron outfit���s tally in the 70-member House goes up to 36. The government, led by the party in the hill state, also has the backing of the three-member Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and an independent, giving enough elbowroom to the newly-crowned chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

The by-election to the Vikasnagar assembly constituency had been necessitated by the resignation of the sitting BJP MLA, Munna Singh Chauhan, who quit the party to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Tehri Garhwal on the BSP ticket. He was rebuffed by the electorate.

The BJP also had the satisfaction of wresting the Tendukheda assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh from the Congress, taking the party���s tally in the 230-member assembly to 144.

The Congress also managed to hold on to the Tekkali assembly seat in Andhra Pradesh, while the Sikkim Democratic Front succeeded in keeping its flag aflutter in Namchi-Singhithang.