Shock defeat for BJP in Chhattisgarh by-poll

Chhattisgarh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a shocking defeat on Tuesday with the Congress wresting the Vaishali Nagar assembly seat in a closely contested by-poll held three days ago.

Congress candidate Bhajan Singh Nirankari, who was trailing till the 11th round of counting, improved his performance in the last five rounds and defeated Jageshwar Sahu of the BJP by nearly 1,600 votes.

The result came as a shock for the saffron party that last November won the seat by nearly 22,000 votes.

Political analysts termed the outcome a considerable blow. The BJP, which has ruled Chhattisgarh since December 2003, has been on a victory run, including in the May general election when it bagged 10 of the state's 11 Lok Sabha seats.

"The Vaishali Nagar victory means a lot for the Congress. It was desperately needed to get over the repeated electoral shocks in the state. The credit goes to the rare unity shown by party leaders during campaigning," said political analyst Anil Vibhakar.

BJP leaders, who had claimed they would win the seat by a record margin, were mostly tight-lipped.

"It was a close fight. The result is no way an indicator that it's a sign of the Congress rise in the state," BJP MP Saroj Pandey, who had quit as the Vaishali Nagar legislator in May after her election to the Lok Sabha, said.

Congress general secretary Ramesh Varlyani was jubilant.

"It's a great morale booster victory and also a personal loss to Chief Minister Raman Singh who had appealed to the people to vote for the BJP candidate assuming that the chief minister himself was contesting."