The results also reveal pockets of resilience of the Congress and these may have important lessons for the party.
MPs Agar: Congress Wins Sangh Bastion
One seat in all the bypolls in which the Congress’ win is most significant is Agar in Dewas district.
This seat used to be a Jan Sangh bastion and then became a BJP bastion. The party won this seat only twice out of 15 elections held since Independence.
The seat was won by Congress candidate Vipin Wankhede, a former state NSUI president.
The win in Agar shows that the Congress can win over even a completely solid BJP seat if it works hard and plays its cards right.
Valmiki Nagar: 55,000 Extra Congress Voters
Though Congress lost the bypoll for the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat, there are a few data points from the result that may give some solace to the party.
The Congress secured 36 percent votes, just about two two percentage points below the victorious JD(U). This was a significant jump of around 12 percentage points since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Whats also significant is that in the Assembly polls, the Mahagathbandhan secured 30.5 percent votes in the six Assembly segments that fall under the Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha seat. This means that the Congress secured around 5.5 percentage points more votes at the Lok Sabha level than the Mahagathbandhan did at the Assembly level.
