Reeling under the impact of the drubbing in Bihar Assembly elections, the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh has received a setback in Ratlam (Scheduled Tribes) parliamentary constituency as the main Opposition Congress wrested the seat. Meanwhile, the ruling BJP retained the Dewas Assembly constituency providing some relief to the saffron party.
Congress candidate and former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria emerged a clear winner in the by-election beating his nearest BJP rival Nirmala Bhuria by a margin of nearly 88,8760 votes. BJP’s Gayatri Raje Puar defeated her nearest Congress rival Jaiprakash Shastri by over 30,000 votes.
Securing a lead in initial rounds of counting that began at 8 am, the Congress was ahead by 19,000 votes at the end of seventh round of counting. The grand old party had extended the lead to 40,000 votes till noon. Nirmala Bhuria, who is BJP legislator from Petlawad, even lagged behind in her own assembly constituency by around 10,000 votes. Kantilal Bhuria, who reached the counting venue, termed the victory as the triumph of Congress workers and averred that the outcome indicated that the magic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has
waned in tribal areas. A total of eight candidates were in the fray for the by-election, which was necessitated by Niramla Bhuria’s father and BJP parliamentarian Dileep Singh Bhuria’s demise. Other candidates included Rashtriya Krantikari Samajwadi Party’s Kasan Singh Chouhan, Bahujan Mukti Party’s Kailash Vasunia, Samta Samadhan Party’s Jalam Singh Patel, Janata Dal (United)’s Vijay Hari and independents Josam Ram Singh and Pawan Singh Dodia. Polling was held in the constituency on November 21. The by-poll was considered as a prestige battle for the ruling party as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had himself led the offensive during campaigning.
The Dewas assembly seat had fallen vacant due to the death of legislator Tukojirao Pawar, also of the BJP. From the beginning the party was assured about its victory in Dewas where the by-election was necessitated by the death of Tukoji Rao Puar. The party fielded his wife Gayatri Devi who emerged victorious by over 30,000 votes.