Budhni elects CM

Bhopal, May 6 (UNI) The backward Budhni assembly constituency elected a chief minister by sending Mr Shivraj Singh Chouhan to the state assembly with a record margin of 36,525 votes, the highest since 1977.

In the eight elections to Budhni since 1977, the Congress won the seat four times, the BJP thrice, while the then Janata Party bagged a solitary victory in 1977.

Mr Chouhan bagged the seat in 1990 with a margin of 22,810 votes, but quit it to contest the general elections.

The Budhni seat fell vacant after Mr Rajendra Singh (BJP), who was elected in 2003 with a margin of about 10,000 votes, resigned to pave the way for Mr Chouhan's entry into the Vidhan Sabha as he took over as Chief Minister on November 29 last year.

Mr Chouhan's nearest rival and Congress candidate Rajkumar Patel had fought two elections from Budhni earlier and wrested the seat in 1993 with a meagre margin of 1,745. He was defeated by Mr Singh in the 2003 assembly election.

Earlier, Congress candidates S N Pradhan, Chouhan Singh Chouhan and Dev Kumar Patel had bagged the seat in 1980, 1985 and 1998 defeating BJP candidates Rameshwar Srivastava, Shaligram and Guruprasad Sharma respectively.

The Janata Party had won the seat in 1977, defeating Congress candidate Saiyad Ejaj Ali by 13,000 votes.

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