Congress leads in MP assembly bypolls

The Opposition Congress improved its lead in the prestigious bye-elections to the assembly constituencies of Mungaoli and Kolaras in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.

Following the 10th round of counting in Kolaras, Congress candidate Mahendra Singh Yadav is ahead of Devendra Jain of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 3,425 votes.

In Mungaoli, Congress' Brijendra Singh Yadav is leading with 3,602 votes against BJP's Bai Sahib.

In Kolaras, Congress has got 37,370 votes and in Mungaoli it has secured 37,708 votes so far in the counting of votes that began at 8 a.m.

A total of 22 candidates from Mungaoli and 13 from Kolaras were in the fray for the February 24 polls. There was 77.25 per cent voting recorded in Mungaoli and 72.82 per cent in Kolaras on Saturday.

Both these seats were keenly contested in a prestige battle between the two parties ahead of the assembly polls in the state due later in 2018.

Mungaoli and Kolaras saw high-voltage campaigns from the ruling BJP and the Congress which is keen to retain both seats.

While Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan led the BJP campaign with a host of ministers, Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia led the opposition attack.

Both the seats fall under Scindia's parliamentary constituency Guna and were earlier held by the Congress.

The BJP that has been in power for 15 years in the state pitched for development in the Congress bastion. Having lost two assembly bypolls to the Congress last year, the BJP was keen on recovering lost ground.

The assembly seats fell vacant after the death of sitting Congress MLAs Mahendra Singh Kalukheda (Mungaoli) and Ram Singh Yadav (Kolaras).

--IANS

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