Latest by-poll results across 14 States announced on November 2, may not be the last word; but they are fairly good indicators of the electors' mood swings, more so for the ruling BJP, ahead of the general elections in five key States including U.P., Punjab and Goa in 2022. The alacrity with which the Union Finance Ministry, on November 3, slashed the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs. 5 and Rs.10 per litre respectively, as a 'Diwali gift' to the people, if anything, shows that the Union Government has woken up to the bypoll 'alarm bells'. The relief to the commoners from the excise duty cuts is certainly welcome with skyrocketing petrol and diesel prices aggravating inflationary pressures; but the timing of the Union Government's decision, impervious for months to pleas by States to cut duty rates, is politically obvious. The reasons are not hard to seek. Barring BJP's traditional stronghold of Madhya Pradesh and its new-find Assam, results of the recent by-polls to various Assembly seats across 12 other States, besides by-polls to three Lok Sabha seats, point to clear setbacks for the BJP, amid a Congress resurgence and regional parties continuing to consolidate. In Andhra Pradesh, the YSR Congress won the lone by-poll with ease with a commanding voteshare of 76.25 per cent and continues to be way ahead of its chief rivals, though in Telangana the BJP won a seat, piping the TRS. But in Karnataka, of the two by-polls there, the BJP conceded one seat to Congress, embarrassing the saffron party's new Chief Minister in that southern state, Basavaraj Bommai...