The ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh on Saturday won byelection for the Khairagarh assembly constituency.
Congress’ Yashoda Verma defeated her nearest rival, BJP’s Komal Janghel, by 20,176 votes, a poll official here said.
Khairagarh constituency, which falls in Rajnandgaon district, had become vacant following the death of sitting JCC (J) MLA and former MP Devvrat Singh in November last year.
The voter turnout in the bypoll for the seat located in State’s Naxal-affected Rajnandgaon district, was 77.88%.
Postal ballots were first taken up for counting followed by votes cast in the EVMs, the official said, adding that the entire process will be done in 21 rounds.
A total of 10 contestants were in the fray, but political experts felt that this time the fight was virtually between the ruling Congress and opposition BJP as the JCC (J) had lost its appeal after the demise of Ajit Jogi in 2020.
Devvrat Singh, who belonged to the erstwhile royal family of Khairagarh, quit Congress in 2017 and joined former JCC (J) the next year. He contested the 2018 Assembly polls on the JCC(J) ticket from Khairagarh. He defeated BJP candidate Komal Janghel by a thin margin of 870 votes.
This time, the BJP once again fielded Komal Janghel, a former MLA, for the bypoll, while Yashoda Verma, the Khairagarh block unit chief of Congress, was the ruling party’s nominee. Ms. Janghel and Ms. Verma both belong to the Lodhi caste, a numerically powerful OBC community in the Khairagarh area.
