Chouhan wins Budhni assembly bypoll

Bhopal, May 6 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (BJP) today won the bypoll in Budhni assembly constituency defeating his nearest Congress rival Rajkumar Patel by a margin of 36,525 votes.

Mr Chouhan polled 66,689 votes, while Mr Patel bagged 30,164 as counting of votes, polled in 189 booths on May 3, came to a close today on the Agriculture College premises in Sehore town with CRPF jawans providing security cover.

Nearly 65 per cent polling was recorded in the bypoll, postponed from April 24 to May 3, as the Election Commission found violation of the model code of conduct and removed the district returning officer and police superintendent.

Gondwana Ganatantra Party nominee Gulzar Singh Markam was third bagging 7,900 votes, while the Samajwadi Party candidate got a meagre 894. Mr Santosh Gaur (Ind) polled 2,085 votes and another independent Shri Ram Neta got 1,264 votes, while the remaining ten independent candidates did not cross three digits.

Mr Chouhan earlier won from Budhni in 1990, but quit it to contest a general election. He was a member of the Lok Sabha for five terms and is representing Vidisha since 1991.

Mr Patel, who represented Budhni in 1993, was a member of the Digvijay Singh ministry.

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.

UNI Team-SP AC MA GC1258