Renu Jogi wins Kota seat

Bilaspur, Dec 7 (UNI) In a severe drubbing to the ruling BJP, Congress nominee Dr Renu Jogi, wife of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, won the Kota Assembly seat in Chhattisgarh defeating her BJP rival by a margin of 23,470 votes in the byelection, result of which was announced today.

In her maiden election, Dr Jogi secured 52 per cent of the total 1,14,308 votes polled, bagging a total of 59,465 votes against 35,995 votes polled by her BJP rival Bhupendra Singh Thakur in a multi-cornered contest.

Congress retains the seat, which it was holding since 1952.

Mrs Jogi, who was an assistant professor in Opthalmology at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in the state capital, had quit her government job to look after her husband Ajit Jogi after he met with an accident and sustained serious spinal cord injuries two and a half years ago.

Mr B P Sahu (Independent) polled 4050 votes, while Mr Chamru Singh Bhanu (NCP) and Mr Pritam Padram (Gondwana Gantantra Party) secured 1197 and 1405 votes respectively.

By-election for Kota, a rural constituency, was necessitated following the death of Congress veteran Rajendra Prasad Shukla, who was the first Speaker of Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly.

The poll outcome has dampened the spirits of the ruling BJP as its government, led by Dr Raman Singh, completes three years today.

''It's a shock treatment for the BJP government and its ministers'', said former Congress minister Satya Narayan Sharma, who was in the forefront of the campaign for Mrs Jogi.

UNI JJ SP LS DS1555