Explained: Why are Congress leaders ecstatic after the bypoll results?

As the results from the latest rounds of bypolls were announced, Congress leaders were in a celebratory mood. Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted: "The BJP has lost two out of three Lok Sabha seats. In assemblies, the BJP has lost at most places in direct contest with INC. HP, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Maharashtra have witnessed it. Modiji, shed arrogance! Repeal three black laws! Stop petrol-diesel-gas loot! Disdain for people's pain is harmful."

Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "Every victory for the Congress is a victory of our party worker. Keep fighting hate. No fear!"

Are there reasons for the Congress to be ecstatic?

On the face of it, yes. Congress candidates registered significant victories in the immediate backyards of two BJP chief ministers. In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress won the bypolls to the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, the home district of BJP Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who had campaigned extensively for Brigadier Khushal Singh Thakur. Pratibha Singh, wife of late CM Virbhadra Singh, carried Mandi. The Congress also won all three assembly seats of Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai in the state; in the latter, the BJP lost its deposit as they were roiled by the rebel candidate Chetan Singh Bragta. CM Thakur said the party will introspect on its poor showing. Himachal Pradesh will go to polls next year, and these bypolls were widely viewed as a litmus test for the ruling party. 

In Karntaka, Congress candidate Srinivas Mane beat BJP's Shivaraj Sajjanar in Hangal, which is in Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's home district of Haveri. "In the Hangal election, the actual BJP candidate was Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. The BJP lost in his home district. The fact is that the people have discarded him despite his emotional talks such as 'I am the son of the soil', 'I will die here' and 'I am the son-in-law of this area'," former CM Siddaramaiah tweeted.

In Rajasthan, the ruling Congress won the bypolls to the Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad assembly segments, pushing the opposition BJP to the third and fourth places. Before the bypolls, the Dhariawad seat was represented by the BJP, and Vallabhnagar by the Congress. With the win, the tally of the Congress in the 200-member Rajasthan assembly reached 108, against BJP's 71 MLAs. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said it is for the first time in the history of the state that any ruling party has won consecutive bypolls. 

In West Bengal, the BJP faced a complete rout. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress got a ringing endorsement from the electors as it won all the four assembly seats, including two that it snatched from the BJP, with a staggering 75.02 per cent vote share.

However, the Congress did suffer losses in Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya. In Assam, the BJP consolidated. In Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP retained Khandwa Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh and wrested Jobat (SC) and Prithvipur assembly seats from the Congress, but ceded Raigaon (SC) constituency to the opposition party.

Congress sees green flags ahead of coming state polls

As the BJP suffered its first major setback in the northern states since the commencement of the farmers agitation last November, the Congress sees signals of an undercurrent against the BJP in the region amid rising price rise, high petrol, diesel and LPG prices and the farmers intensifying their stir against the three farm laws.

Congress leaders claim that the bypoll results are indicative of the trend for the upcoming assembly elections, and that the defeat of the BJP in two Lok Sabha seats is the beginning of the BJP-led Central government's countdown.

The party leaders also believe that the voting trends against the BJP are indicative of "widespread distrust" of people towards the ruling dispensation due to spiralling prices of commodities and fuel, coupled with the issue of unemployment. This, they feel, is hurting common people, who in turn, are showing their anger by voting against the BJP.

Several Congress leaders claimed that the countdown to the BJP governments in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka has begun.

-Inputs from agencies