How the By election unfolds?

The opposition political parties have emerged victorious on 11 seats in the by-elections limiting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies to just three seats. If these victories are a setback for the ruling BJP then it is an impressive show of strength for the Opposition in the by-elections to four Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats spreading across 11 states. But will they have any bearing on 2019 Lok Sabha elections?

Political analysts say that these wins could be a major boost for the opposition parties which are gradually uniting in the run-up to the 2019 general elections. Results of these elections appeared slanted against the BJP after taking into account that all the parties that had won these seats before by polls were necessitated. While the BJP alliance retained two Lok Sabha seats -- one in Maharashtra and another in Nagaland -- it failed to retain two others -- UP's Kairana and Maharashtra's Bhandara-Gondiya.

Similarly, in 10 Assembly seats, the BJP and its allies failed to retain seats like Noorpur in UP and Shahkot in Punjab, while the opposition parties such as the Congress, CPM, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Trinamool retained their respective seats. The BJP retained Tharali Assembly seat in Uttarakh.

But amid all these drubbing, the BJP leaders are of the view that by elections and general elections are different. Moreover, these elections would not have any impact either on the central government or the state government anywhere.

The Lok Sabha by-elections result appeared equally divided. The BJP and its ally have one two seats while opposition has also won two Lok Sabha seats. But figures for the 10 Assembly by-polls have come as the big disappointment for the ruling party which could manage to win just one seat in Uttarakhand while the Congress bagged three one each in Meghalaya, Karnataka and Punjab and others got six -- JMM got two in Jharkhand, while CPM, SP, RJD and Trinamool Congress (TMC) got one each in Kerala, UP, Bihar and West Bengal, respectively.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has won Jokihat assembly seat In Bihar by defeating Janata Dal (U’Commenting on the results, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said one has to take two steps backward before a big leap. On being asked about the BJP's performance in these by-elections ahead of next year's general polls, Singh said, "For a massive leap, one always has to go two steps backward."

Punjab's ruling Congress candidate Hardev Singh Ladi wrested the Shahkot assembly seat from the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has hailed the Congress victory as a 'vindication' of the government's people-centric policies.