Bhopal/Bhubaneswar
Congress party today surged past the Bharatiya Janata Party in two Assembly bypolls in Madhya Pradesh while the Biju Janata Dal wrested the Bijepur segment from the party in Odisha.
The Congress party has retained Mungaoli Assembly seat in a by-poll by a margin of over 2,000 votes, a poll official said. Congress’ Brijendra Singh Yadav beat BJP’s Bai Sahib by 2,124 votes.
Brajendra Singh Yadav got 70,808 votes while the BJP candidate, Baisahab Yadav, bagged 68,684, the official said.
Congress also retained Kolaras Assembly seat with a margin of over 8,000 votes. A total of 22 candidates from Mungaoli and 13 from Kolaras were in the fray for the February 24 polls.
There was 77.25 per cent voting recorded in Mungaoli and 72.82 per cent in Kolaras on Saturday. Both these seats were keenly contested in a prestige battle between the two parties ahead of the assembly polls in the state due later in 2018.
While the Congress party secured Mungaoli by a narrow 2,000 vote margin, it had taken a clear lead in Shivpuri’s Kolaras assembly segment.
The verdict is seen as good omen for Congress in Madhya Pradesh as assembly elections in the state are due later this year.
In Odisha, Ruling BJD candidate Rita Sahu won the Bijepur Assembly seat defeating her nearest rival Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ashok Panigrahi in a fierce political battle.
Returning Officer Tapiram Majhi announced that Ms Rita Sahu won the election by defeating BJP candidate Ashok Panigrahi by a margin of 41,933 votes.
The BJD wrested the seat from the Congress.
Odisha Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik expressed his gratitude to the people for the victory of his party in the by-election.
Mr Patnaik said Odisha is a peace loving state and its people never support violence.
The by-election witnessed pre-poll violence and shoes were hurled at the Chief Minister while he was addressing an election meeting during the campaign.
The Congress, which held the Bijepur Assembly seat for the last three terms, was pushed to the third position as its candidate Pranaya Sahu collected a meagre 10,274 votes.
Rita Sahu polled 102,871 votes against the 60,398 of Ashok Panigrahi. There were 13 candidates in the fray.
While the BJD fielded Rita Sahu, widow of Subal Sahu (Congress) whose death necessitated the bypoll, the BJP put up former BJD MLA Ashok Panigrahi and Mr Pranay Sahu jumped into the fray on the Congress ticket.
With this win, the strength of the BJD in the 147-member Odisha Assembly rose to 118, as Congress was reduced by one to 15 and the BJP remained at 10 MLAs. The Samata Kranti Dal and Communist Party of India (Marxist) have one seat each and there are two Independents In the Assembly.
The byelection became a prestige issue in view of the Assembly elections in Odisha due next year.
Ms Sahu, a debutante in Odisha politics, attributed her victory to her late husband’s popularity and also Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik . She said the BJD will fulfill all the promises made by Mr Naveen Patnaik to the people during the election.
Senior Congress party leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Narashingha Mishra said the INC respects the people’s verdict and accepts its defeat in the bypoll.
BJP spokesman Pitambar Acharya said its candidate fared well in comparsion to the last Assembly election. He asserted that BJD’s Rita Sahu had secured the sympathy vote as her late husband had won the seat thrice consecutively since the 2004 Assembly elections.