BJP retains Malehra, wins Vidisha LS seat

Bhopal, Nov 02: BJP candidate and Madhya Pradesh state minister Rampal Singh won the Vidisha Lok Sabha by-election on Thursday defeating his nearest Congress rival Rajshri Singh by over 85,000 votes. The BJP also retained Malehra seat in a multi-cornered contest in the assembly by-election.

Rampal Singh polled around 2.58 lakh votes as against 1.73 lakh bagged by Rajshri, while the Bhartiya Janshakti`s Raghunandan Sharma stood third with 1.39 lakh votes, official sources said.

The BJP also retained Malehra seat, with its candidate Kapoor Chand Ghuwara defeating his nearest BJS rival Rekha Yadav by about 3,000 votes in a multi-cornered contest in the assembly by-election.

In the first electoral contest between BJP and BJS having similar ideologies, the by-election, caused by Ms Bharti`s resignation, was closely fought.

It is a major upset for Ms Bharti, who had won from Malehra on BJP ticket during December 2003 elections defeating her nearest Congress rival Jagdish Shukla by over 31,000 votes.

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