Chitrakoot bypoll: BJP, Congress gear up for close contest

Winning the Chitrakoot Assembly bypoll in Madhya Pradesh has become a prestige issue for the ruling BJP and opposition Congress in the state as it will be held a day after the first anniversary of demonetisation and ahead of the crucial Gujarat polls.
The bypoll, scheduled to be held on November 9, was necessitated in the Assembly segment due to the death of its Congress MLA, Prem Singh.
The counting of votes will be taken up on November 12.
Singh had won the Chitrakoot seat thrice -- in 1998, 2003 and 2013. In 2008, he had lost to the BJP's Surendra Singh Gaharwar.

During campaigning, both the BJP and the Congress had fielded their top guns such as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh.
While the Congress has fielded Nilanshu Chaturvedi in the bypoll, the saffron party has given ticket to Shankar Dayal Tripathi. Both will be contesting the Assembly election for the first time.

Ajay Singh claimed that the BJP had already conceded defeat in the bypoll on "moral grounds".
"The chief minister camped in the constituency for three days in the last phase of the campaigning not for canvassing, but to manage the polls by hook or by crook," he alleged.

Accusing Chouhan of "luring" and "threatening" the voters in the constituency, Singh said he had filed a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) in this regard.
Refuting the Congress' allegations, BJP's Chitrakoot poll campaign in-charge Vishnudutt Sharma told PTI that it was the opposition party which contested elections by luring voters.
"The BJP is contesting the election on the plank of the development and hard work it has done on the ground. The Congress is desperate as it has always contested polls on the basis of liquor and money power. This strategy has now failed as the people have seen the true face of the grand old party," he said.

Sharma claimed that the BJP would win the bypoll with a huge margin, riding on the popularity of Chouhan.
While senior Congress leaders such as Kamal Nath, Jyotiraditya Scindia, state party chief Arun Yadav campaigned for the party candidate, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and state BJP president Nandkumar Singh Chouhan were the star campaigners for the saffron party in Chitrakoot.
According to the EC, over two lakh voters were eligible to exercise their franchise at 257 booths in the constituency.
"In the Chitrakoot bypoll, 1.98 lakh voters, including 1.06 lakh male and 91,730 female voters, are eligible to cast their votes," an EC official had said.

He had also said that VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines would be used at all the polling booths.
Besides Tripathi and Chaturvedi, 10 Independent candidates are also in the fray.
The high-decibel campaign for the bypoll came to an end this evening.