As the BJP lost two Lok Sabh bypolls in UP and one in Bihar, the Congress on Wednesday rubbed in the electoral defeats, saying that the ruling party had "lost the simple majority in the Lok Sabha on its own".
The Congress said the results gave a clear message that people were angry with the Bharatiya Janata Party for its "arrogance and misrule".
"The 2017-18 report card of the BJP is 0/10 -- the BJP lost all 10 Lok Sabha by-elections in 2017 and 2018. Bypoll results have given a clear message that people are angry with the BJP for its arrogance and misrule," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted.
He said the Lok Sabha seats lost by the BJP in 2017 are Amritsar, Srinagar, Malappuram and Gurdaspur as well as Ajmer, Alwar, Uluberia, Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Araria in 2018.
"In May 2014, the BJP won 282 Lok Sabha seats. In four years, the BJP is down to 271, losing the simple majority in the Lok Sabha minus its allies -- considering the fact that Modi has suspended party MP Kirti Azad and virtually disowned their most truthful and fiercely independent Patna Sahib MP (Shatrughan Sinha)," Surjewala claimed.
However, BJP, which had won an absolute majority in the 2014 General Elections with 282 seats, a first by a political party after 30 years, has lost only seven seats in by-elections held so far in the last four years.
In the by-elections since Narendra Modi stormed to power, Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) lost to Congress on four seats, to Samajwadi Party on two seats and to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on one seat.
According to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the BJP has 274 MPs in the lower house excluding the Speaker of the House.
--IANS
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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