Congress wins nine out of 17 seats in Assembly bye-polls

New Delhi, Aug.21 (ANI): The Congress and its allies on Friday won nine of the 17 seats in assembly by-polls spread over five states.

In Tamil Nadu, the win for the Congress and its ally the DMK was largely helped by the boycott of opposition AIADMK and its partners.

The DMK bagged three seats-Cumbum, Burgur and Ilayankudi. The remaining two seats Srivaikuntam and Thondamuthur went to the Congress. DMK President and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi attributed the performance to achievements of the UPA Government and his government in the state.

In Karnataka, the Congress fared badly. Of the five seats that were up for grabs, it could retain only Govindarajanagar.

In Chitapur, Priyanka Kharge, son of Union Labour Minister M Mallikarjun Kharge, lost to the BJP's Valmiki Nayak.

The Janata Dal-Secular won two seats retaining Ramnagara and Chennapatna. The BJP bagged Chitapur and Kollegal.

BJP's strength in the 224-member Karnataka assembly will now go up to 117 and that of JD-S to 27 while Congress tally will decline to 74.

In Uttar Pradesh, BSP put up a good show, winning three seats --Moradabad, Malihabad and Bidhuna. Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal retained Morena.

The Samajwadi Party failed to win a single seat.

In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress won the Bowbazar and Sealdah seats. In Meghalaya the Congress nominee and Meghalaya Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh won the by-poll to the Laitumkhrah constituency defeating the United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate Malcolm Tariang by a margin of 2327 votes. (ANI)