Bhopal/Rourkela, November 2
The BJP today retained the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat and the Malehra
Assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh while the Congress retained the Talasara
Assembly seat in Orissa.
Bharatiya Jan Shakti (BJS) president Uma Bharti’s hopes were dashed
in Malehra as BJP candidate Kapoor Chand Ghuwara defeated his nearest
BJS rival Rekha Yadav by about 3,000 votes in a multi-cornered contest.
It was a major setback for Ms Bharti, who had won from Malehra on the
BJP ticket in December 2003.
In the past eight Assembly elections since 1977, including the
byelection, the BJP had emerged victorious from the seat five times.
BJP candidate from Vidisha and Madhya Pradesh Public Health and
Engineering Minister Rampal Singh defeated his Congress rival Rajshri
Singh by more than 85,000 votes.
In Orissa, the ruling BJD-BJP combine suffered a setback as the
Congress retained the Talasara (ST) Assembly seat, where the byelection
was held on October 30.
Congress candidate Dr Prafulla Majhi defeated his BJP rival Sahadeb
Khaka by 2,574 votes.
This was the first byelection result during the six-year tenure of
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in which the ruling alliance partners lost
to the Opposition. — UNI
