Congress candidate Neelandhu Chaturvedi beats BJP’s Shankarlal Tripathi by more than 14,000 votes
BHOPAL: The Congress on Sunday retained the Chitrakoot Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh, with its candidate Nilanshu Chaturvedi winning the bypoll with an improved margin of 14,133 votes.
Around 65% voting was recorded in the bypoll election which was conducted on November 9.The win is a major morale booster for the Congress ahead of the assembly polls next in the state next year, while it has set the alarm bells ringing for the BJP, especially Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
According to Hindu mythology, Lord Ram along with Sita and his brother Lakshman spent 12 years of his exile in the forests of Chitrakoot.
Nilanshu Chaturvedi polled 66,810 votes, while his nearest rival, Shankar Dayal Tripathi of the BJP, got 52,677 votes.
Accepting the defeat, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted saying public mandate was supreme in democracy.
BJP state president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan accepted defeat and said the party respects public opinion and would introspect on the reasons for the loss.
The Congress’ communication chief Randeep Surjewala said the victory signalled the change in political mood in the country.Congress workers celebrated the victory by bursting crackers outside the party’s state headquarters, Indira Bhawan in Bhopal,.
