Lion's share to Cong in assly bypolls; BJP retains Hamirpur LS seat

New Delhi, June 5 (UNI) The Congress won four of the seven bypolls to assembly constituencies in five states today while the BJP was successful in retaining the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat.

Congress wrested the Shivpuri seat from the BJP in Madhya Pradesh with its candidate Virendra Raghuvanshi defeating his BJP rival Ganesh Ram Gautam, who has contested the last four assembly elections on a Congress ticket, by 7781 votes in a 15-corner contest. The Uma Bharti-led Bharatiya Jan Shakti's second attempt to secure a victory in Assembly by-elections in the state, after Malehra, also failed, with its candidate coming a poor third.

The seat fell vacant following resignation of then state Tourism Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia of the BJP after her election to the Lok Sabha from Gwalior.

However, in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, the BJP won the Khairagarh and Malkharoda (SC) bypolls, wresting the seats from Congress and BSP respectively.

In Khairagarh seat, the party's Komal Janghel defeated Congress' Padma Singh by a margin of 15,987 votes in a multi-corner contest, while in Malkharoda constituency, Nirmal Sinha (BJP) defeated his nearest rival Mohan Mani Jatwar (Congress) by a margin of 21,987 votes.

The by-election in Khairagarh was necessitated by the resignation of Congress leader Devavrat Singh following his election to the Lok Sabha from Rajnandgaon constituency recently. His wife, who was given the party ticket, failed to retain the seat..

Malkharoda seat fell vacant after sitting BSP legislator Lalsai Khute's election was declared null and void by the High Court on an election petition. Though he contested again, he performed dismally, being relegated to the third position.

In Manipur, the ruling Congress acquired a majority in the assembly on its own, winning the Khangabok and Khundrakpam Assembly constituency seats, bringing its tally to 31 in the 60-member House .

Okram Landhoni, the wife of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, won the Khangabok Assembly constituency in Thoubal district with a margin of over 18,000 votes. Ms Landhoni got 22,245, while Qutub Ali of the the Samajwadi Party polled 3,613 votes.

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