CONG RETAINS CHITRAKOOT ASSEMBLY SEAT IN BYELECTION

The Congress retained the Chitrakoot assembly seat in a Madhya Pradesh bypoll on Sunday, with party candidate Nilanshu Chaturvedi securing 66,810 votes to defeat his nearest rival — Shankar Dayal Tripathi of BJP — by a margin of 14,333 votes. Tripathi polled 52,677 votes.

The bypolls to the assembly seat, held on November 9, witnessed a voter turnout of over 65%. The results were declared on Sunday. The Congress also managed to improve its performance, as compared to the 2013 assembly elections. Its candidate, Prem Singh, whose demise necessitated the bypoll, had won the previous electoral contest by a margin of 10,970 votes.

There were 12 candidates, including nine independents, in the fray. Interestingly, NOTA (none of the above) turned out to be the third-highest vote-getter with a count of 2,455.

The BSP, which had garnered 19.55% votes in the 2013 assembly elections, didn’t field its candidate. Experts believe this decision went in favour of Congress.

Chitrakoot has been a Congress bastion and the BJP managed to emerge victorious (with a low margin of 772 votes) here just once in 2008. Nevertheless, the bypoll assumed significance in view of the Bhavantar Yojna — a first-of-its-kind scheme introduced by the state government for farmers — a couple of months ago. There has been widespread resentment since the scheme was launched, with farmers alleging it has enabled traders to reduce the price of agriculture produce at ‘mandis’ across the state.

Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was in Katni to attend an event, tweeted his acceptance of the BJP’s defeat before the results were officially announced. “Chitrakoot upchunav me janata ke nirnay ko shirodharya karta hun. Janmat hi loktantra ka asli aadhar hai (I accept people’s mandate in the Chitrakoot by-poll. Public mandate is the real foundation of democracy),” he said, adding that the party would review the reasons behind its performance.

BHOPAL: