BJP snatches Amarwara Assembly seat of MP from Cong in bypolls
Bhopal: As the Election Commission declared the results on Saturday, the Bhartiya Janata Party won the Amarwara Assembly seat of Madhya Pradesh in the by-polls held on July 10.
The ruling BJP candidate Kamlesh Pratap Shah defeated the Opposition Congress nominee Dheeren Shah Invati with a margin of 3027 votes in a tough battle. The by-elections were necessitated on the seat after the resignation of BJP candidate Shah, who was the Congress MLA, from the Assembly.
Shah switched to the ruling party from Congress ahead of the recently concluded Lok Saba elections. It is considered to lead to the BJP’s win in the Chhindwara LS seat, a former Chief Minister Kamal Nath stronghold.
Dr Mohan Yadav, who was the surprise pick of the BJP as the CM of Madhya Pradesh, is considered a successful experiment of the party, as the party won the first held by-poll and registered a clean sweep in the state in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
“I am happy, we had won the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat last time and now we won the Assembly by-polls as well”, Chief Minister Yadav said.
“The people of Amarwara expressed their full faith in the “Guarantee of Trust”, which shows the relationship between the BJP and the public. I heartily congratulate the people of the state”, CM Yadav said.
BJP’s Shah got 83,105 votes, while Congress’ Invati polled 80,078 votes, according to the ECI website. Devraman Bhalavi, who contested the election on a ticket of the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) finished third by bagging 28,723 votes.
Shah, who has become a fourth-term MLA, has consecutively won three elections from the same seat as a Congress candidate since 2013.
However, Congress accused the ruling BJP of misusing the machinery and said the party won the election on money and muscles. They also said that the poll officers did not follow the guidelines of the ECI during the counting of votes.
The by-election to this Scheduled Tribes-reserved seat in Chhindwara district was prestigious for both the ruling BJP and opposition Congress as the Chhindwara region was considered a bastion of senior Congress leader Nath until recently.
