Congress defeats BJP by over 14 thousand votes in MP by-election

Chitrakoot : Congress candidate Nilanshu Chaturvedi was on Sunday declared elected to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly from Chitrakoot constituency, defeating his BJP rival by 14,133 votes.

Chaturvedi led right from the start of vote count at 8 a.m. and kept increasing his winning lead, officials said. After 19 rounds of counting, he worsted the Bharatiya Janata Party's Shankar Dayal Tripathi.

According to a statement from the office of the chief electoral officer here, Chaturvedi received 66,810 votes and his BJP rival 52,677 out of the 126,903 votes declared valid. 

It said that by the end of the fifth round, Chaturvedi had established a lead of over 10,000 votes over Tripathi and at the end of the tenth, was ahead by 17,959. However, Tripathi then rallied and by the end, had shrunk the lead to 14,133.

The election to the constituency in Satna district was called after the death of sitting Congress legislator Prem Singh. A total of 12 candidates were in the fray including nine independents.

In New Delhi, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala termed his party's victory in the bypoll an indication of change, and thanked the people for their faith in the party.

"The winds of change are in the air. Many thanks to the people of Chitrakoot for their faith and trust in the Congress party," Surjewala tweeted.