The BJP has snatched Jobat (ST) Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh from Congress with the saffron party candidate Sulochana Rawat defeating her nearest rival Mahesh Patel by a margin of 6,104 votes in the bypoll, counting for which was held on Tuesday, officials said.
Mr. Rawat received 68,949 votes and Patel 62,845, officials added.
Counting of votes is underway in two other Assembly constituencies of Raigaon and Prithvipur, and in the Khandwa Lok Sabha seat, where bypolls were held along with Jobat on October 30. Of the four seats for which byelections were held on Saturday, the Khandwa Lok Sabha constituency and Raigaon Assembly seat were earlier held by the BJP, while Jobat and Prithvipur segments were with Congress. Meanwhile, BJP candidate Gyaneshwar Patil has increased his lead over the nearest rival from Congress, Rajnarayan Singh Purni, in Khandwa by 78,959 votes, as per the trends.
The Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after the death of sitting BJP MP Nandkumar Singh Chauhan. In the Raigaon Assembly seat (reserved for SC) in the Satna district, Congress candidate Kalpana Verma is leading by 12,245 votes over her BJP rival Pratima Bagri.
In the Prithvipur Assembly seat in the Niwari district, BJP's Shishupal Singh Yadav is ahead of his Congress challenger Nitendra Singh Rathore by 5,496 votes, trends showed. A total of 48 candidates were in the fray for the bypolls held to four seats, necessitated due to the death of sitting MLAs and an MP.
Counting of votes began at 8 AM on Tuesday amid tight security.
