The Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won the majority seats in the assembly bypolls.

The byelections, were held in ten Assembly Constituencies in eight States, on Sunday - Delhi, Karnataka, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam and Madhya Pradesh.

Elections were held in Rajouri Garden (Delhi), Litipara (Jharkhand), Nanjangud and Gundlupet (Karnataka), Dholpur (Rajasthan), Kanthi Dakshin (West Bengal), Ater and Bandhavgarh (Madhya Pradesh), Bhoranj (Himachal Pradesh) and Dhemaji (Assam).

In Karnataka, the ruling Congress retained both the Assembly seats of Nanjangud and Gundlupet. Kalale N Keshavamurthy, of Congress, defeated his nearest rival V Srinivas Prasad of BJP, by over 21,000 votes in Nanjangud. In Gundlupet, Geetha Mahadevaprasad of Congress,  defeated BJP's C S Niranjan Kumar by over 10,000 votes, said an election official said. Both the seats were won by the Congress.

The Congress and the BJP, had played for heavy stakes in the bypolls, with the Assembly polls scheduled to be held in about a year.

The by-elections in Gundlupet, were necessary, following the death of Cooperation Minister Mahadevaprasad. While the Nanjangud elections took place, after the resignation of Srinivas Prasad as Congress MLA, after he was dropped from the ministry.

Srinivas had moved over to the BJP, while Keshavamurthy had contested the 2013 Assembly polls on a Janata Dal (Secular) ticket. Geeta is the widow of Mahadeva Prasad. Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda- led JDS had not fielded its candidates, however, remained neutral.

In New Delhi, the BJP achieved a huge victory in the Rajouri Garden Assembly bypoll, by defeating the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which finished a distant third and even lost deposit.

The BJP-Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), joint candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa, won 40,602 seats, over 50% of the total votes polled, in a boost for the saffron party ahead of the April 23 municipal polls. Meenakshi Chandela, of Congress, finished second with 25,950 votes while AAP's Harjeet Singh managed to get only 10,243 votes, less than one-sixth of the total votes polled, and lost deposit.

AAP Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia admitted that people were upset with the party, over its legislator quitting to contest from Punjab.

In West Bengal, Trinamool Congress candidate Chandrima Bhattacharya, wins from Kanthi Dakshin (Vidhan Sabha constituency), with 95369 votes. BJP comes second with 52843 votes.

Im Madhya Pradesh, the BJP retained the Bandhavgarh assembly seat defeating rival Congress by a margin of over 25,000 votes. BJP nominee Shivnarayan Singh defeated Congress candidate Savitri Singh from the seat in Umaria district by 25,476 votes, an election official said. In Ater (Madhya Pradesh), the Congress is with a small margin.

In Himachal Pradesh, BJP candidate Dr Anil Dhiman, defeated his nearest Congress rival, Promila Devi and won the Bhoranj (SC) Assembly seat by 8,290 votes. Dhiman polled 24,453 votes against 16,144 votes polled by Devi while Pawan Chandel, a BJP rebel who contested as an Independent, polled 4,630 votes.

In Assam, BJP candidate Ranoj Pegu won the Dhemaji Assembly by-election defeating his nearest Congress rival Babul Sonowal by 9,285 votes. While the BJP candidate polled 75,217 votes, his Congress rival garnered 65,932 votes, the election office said.

In Jharkand, Mukti Morcha leaves rivals behind with 5,438 votes after seven rounds of counting in Litipara.

In Rajasthan, the BJP candidate Shobha Rani won from Dholpur, defeating a Congress candidate. The BJP candidate has secured 91,548 votes while the votes of Congress candidate Banwari Lal Sharma are 52,845,” according to the State Election Commission.

A total of 74,742 votes have been counted in ten rounds and the counting is on amid tight security arrangements.

Meanwhile, the BJP leaders are giving credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje whereas the Congress is questioning the credibility of the electronic voting machines.

Meanwhile, repolling is underway in 38 booths of Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency today after the Election Commission order, following violence in the April 9 by-election, in which 8 people were killed in clashes with security forces.

Voter-verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) are being used at all the 166 polling stations of the west Delhi constituency, following the AAP's allegations that the EVMs were tampered with.

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By Supraja