Govt, not BJP fought MP byelections: Congress

New Delhi, Nov 2 (UNI) The Congress today said byelections in Vidisha parliamentary constituency and Bada Malehra Vidhan Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh were fought by the state Government and not the BJP.

AICC General Secretary Incharge of Madhya Pradesh V Narayansamy said the BJP won Vidisha byelection because of misuse of Government machinery and bogus voting.

''Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had himself campaigned in the Lok Sabha constituency for 60 days using the Government helicopter while ministers were put in charge of the elections,'' Mr Narayansamy told UNI here.

He said if there had been free and fair elections, the Congress would have had a chance of winning the elections.

Mr Narayansamy claimed the vote percentage of the BJP had fallen sharply in this byelection as compared to the last Lok Sabha elections. While the BJP had polled 2,80,008 votes in the 2004 elections, it had secured 2,03,000 votes this time.

As regards Bada Malehra byelection, he said it was the caste combination that worked. It was the Government not the BJP that fought the election. The party had unleashed lot of violence during the elections, he said, adding the election code of conduct aws not observed.

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