Mungaoli and Kolaras by-election
Chronicle Reporter, Bhopal
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said today the BJP is “pained” it could not win the just held by-polls to two Assembly seats but maintained his party fought well and lost narrowly.
The opposition Congress retained the two Assembly seats – Kolaras (Shivpuri district) and Mungaoli (Ashoknagar district) – where bypolls were held on February 24, but with a reduced margin.
“We fought to win but a bit was left in our effort,” he told reporters at his residence here when asked to comment on the bypolls outcome.“We are pained we could not win the by-elections,” said Chouhan, who along with some senior members of his Cabinet took part in the campaigning.
“All had thought winning the two seats was tough (for the BJP). The Congress had won Kolaras by a margin of around 25,000 votes in 2013. We narrowed this gap to around 8,000 votes in the bypolls,” the chief minister said.
“The Congress won Mungaoli by 22,000 votes in 2013. This time we lost to the Congress by around 2,100 votes.”The chief minister expressed confidence that his party would win the Assembly polls, slated for later this year, with a comfortable majority.
Chouhan hails BJP’s performance in Tripura and Nagaland
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hailed the BJP’s performance in Tripura and Nagaland assembly polls describing it a victory of ‘vote for development’ agenda. The state BJP also celebrated the victory at the party’s head office here on Saturday.
Chouhan congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for the party’s performance in the polls and historic win in the three northeast states.
The BJP state unit also celebrated the victory at the party’s head office. Party organisation general secretary Suhas Bhagat, state revenue minister Umashankar Gupta, MLAs and party workers congratulated the PM and party president and burst crackers to celebrate the victory.
Leaders said that the historic triumph boosted workers’ morale after the bypoll defeat. They further said chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is likely to visit two villages of Mungaoli and Kolaras on March 4 to express his gratitude towards voters.
Chouhan will visit villages Guneru and Dhondia to distribute relief of welfare schemes to local beneficiaries under Antyodaya Sammelan. Chouhan will also address thanksgiving rallies in two constituencies.
The BJP has claimed that the victory margin of the opposition Congress was considerably reduced in bypolls while the vote share of saffron party has increased in both the areas.
Sources said that Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had left for a foreign tour immediately after completion of bypoll campaign, is also likely to address rallies in both the assembly areas on March 7 to thank the voters for party’s victory.
