By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS
London : Virendra Sharma of Labour won from Ealing Southall as the ruling party Friday retained both this "Little India" constituency and Sedgefield, but with reduced majorities, in the first by-elections since Gordon Brown took over as Britain's prime minister.
Brown's delight may have been dampened by the fact that in both constituencies the winning margin had dwindled since the 2005 general elections.
In Ealing Southall, Virendra Sharma was declared elected, and promptly termed the result a "humiliating rebuke" to the Conservative party led by David Cameron, whose five visits to the constituency had made it a prestigious contest.
The result was a repeat of the 2005 general election outcome with the Liberal Democrat candidate Nigel Bakhai returning coming second. Despite the high-profile campaign, Conservative candidate Tony Lit came third, with fewer votes than the party got in 2005.
The by-election in Ealing Southall, in west London, was triggered by the death of Piara Singh Khabra June 19. The Sedgefield constituency in Durham county went to the polls following the resignation of Tony Blair as prime minister and MP.
Campaigning in Ealing Southall was marked by allegations of dirty tricks, defections and scuffles.
In 2005, Labour's Piara Singh Khabra had won the seat by a margin of 11,440 votes. On Friday, Sharma's majority was slashed to 5,000. Observers attributed this to the lower turnout in the by-election than in the 2005 general election.
Soon after being declared elected, Sharma said: "I am humbled by the trust reposed in me by the people of Ealing Southall. This is a great result for our new Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It is policies that win elections, not slick PR".
In Sedgefield, Labour's Phil Wilson won by a margin of 7,000 votes. In 2005, the outgoing MP, Tony Blair, had won with a margin of over 18,000 votes. The Liberal Democrats came second while the Conservative candidate was reduced to the third place.
A delighted Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman said that the two election results would "bring a spring in our step", but refused to be drawn into speculation whether the results would inspire Brown to order an early general election, as widely speculated.