New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS): Defeat is always "sad" and the Congress would be reviewing the party's loss in the parliamentary by-election in Hisar, Haryana, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Monday.

As it became clear that election had been won by the Haryana Janhit Congress' (HJC) Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi and that the Congress nominee was coming a distant third, Mukherjee told reporters: "Party's loss in elections is always a sad thing. And we shall have to analyse why we have lost the by-election."

"But just now it is not possible for me to make an instant comment," Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event here.

The Hisar seat, which had fallen vacant in June following the death of three-time chief minister Bhajan Lal, had around 40 candidates in the polls. The election was being seen as significant as Anna Hazare and his team members had stepped in to campaign against the Congress.

The election, held on Oct 13, witnessed 70 percent polling. About 9.3 lakh voters (nearly 70 percent) of 13.32 lakh registered voters had voted.