The Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s victory in the Munugode bye-election shows how righteousness wins, the party’s working president KT Rama Rao said on Sunday, according to India Today.

Rao said that the voters of the constituency gave a fitting reply to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s arrogance.

The bye-election was conducted after Congress MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy resigned in August and joined the BJP. He re-contested on a BJP ticket, but was defeated by the TRS’ Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy.

Rao said that although Raj Gopal Reddy was the face of the BJP in Munugode, he was a puppet in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He added that the election was forced on the constituency by the prime minister and home minister, according to ANI.

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Rao congratulated the voters of Munugode for supporting the TRS and said that the BJP should have the courage to accept defeat.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s state chief Bandi Sanjay said that the party respects the verdict of the voters. He added that Raj Gopal Reddy fought the election like a hero. “No matter how many threats were made by the ruling party, BJP workers worked unyieldingly,” he said.

The BJP candidate Raj Gopal Reddy claimed that he was threatened by the ruling TRS government. “Despite these challenges we fought, TRS’ victory is fake, BJP was winning,” he said. “We respect the verdict of Munugode public, but we don’t accept those who have got votes in a wrong manner.”

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The BJP leader alleged that the state government used its power to threaten the BJP, according to ANI. “That’s how TRS won,” he said. “Police officers are in KCR’s hands… We were threatened cases will be filed against us if we don’t change party.”

Bye-elections were held in a total of seven Assembly seats and the results were declared on Sunday. The BJP emerged victorious in Bihar’s Gopalganj, Uttar Pradesh’s Gola Gokrannath, Odisha’s Dhamnagar and Haryana’s Adampur.

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal won the Mokama constituency in Bihar and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction secured a comfortable victory in the Andheri (East) Assembly seat in Mumbai.