Congress retains seat in Madhya Pradesh bypoll

The party defeats BJP by over 14,000 votes; State BJP chief says seat traditionally belonged to Congress

The Congress yesterday retained the Chitrakoot Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh with its candidate winning the seat in a bypoll with an improved margin of over 14,000 votes. In the 2013 Assembly polls, the party had won the seat with a margin of 10,970 votes. Congress' Nilanshu Chaturvedi defeated his nearest rival, Shankar Dayal Tripathi of the BJP, by 14,133 votes in the bypoll which was held on November 9, returning officer A P Dwivedi said.

Congress candidate Neelanshu Chaturvedi (in blue jacket) flashes the victory sign after winning the Chitrakoot state assembly by-election. Pic/PTI

Chaturvedi polled 66,810 votes, while Tripathi had to be content with 52,677 votes. As many as 2,455 votes were polled under the 'none of the above' (NOTA) category. The counting of votes began at around 8 am amid a tight security in Satna district, around 400 km from here. Around 65 per cent voting was recorded in the bypoll, which was necessitated in the Assembly segment following the death of its Congress MLA Prem Singh (65).