BJP retains Ghodadongri seat in MP by-election

BJP today retained the Ghodadongri (ST) reserved seat in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh after its nominee Mangal Singh Dhurve won the Assembly by-poll.
Dhurve defeated Congress candidate Pratap Singh Uikey, a former minister, by a margin 13,182 votes, an election official said.
While Dhurve polled 82,304 votes, Pratap secured 69,122 ballots, the official said.
The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of BJP MLA Sajjan Singh Uikey.
BJP had won from here in the 2013 Assembly election by a margin of 8,084 votes. The party this time has thus improved its victory margin.
A total of seven candidates were in the fray but the main contest was between BJP and Congress.

Nearly 74.48 per cent electorates exercised their franchise in the poll held on May 30.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who led the BJP's campaign from day one for the bypoll, expressed happiness over the victory.
"Peoples' affection gave me strength to work for the all-round development of the state. It's my aim to bring smile on every face," he said in a tweet.
"It is the victory of party's principles and the state government's welfare policies. It is an indication of peoples' indissoluble faith in us and that is only our strength," he he said in another tweet.

BJP national president Amit Shah also congratulated Chouhan, party's state unit chief and other workers for the win.
Union Minister for Steel and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar and state unit president Nandkumar Singh Chouhan among others had campaigned for BJP.
Senior Congress leaders including Digvijay Singh and former Union Ministers Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia had campaigned for the party.