BHOPAL: BJP leader Imarti Devi, who has been in the center of a bitter controversy in the run-up to the by-election in Madhya Pradesh, lost from Dabra seat on Tuesday.
She was defeated by Congress' Suresh Raje, also a turncoat who had left the BJP to join the Congress party ahead of by-polls, by 7265 votes. Devi, who had been a member of the Congress for nearly 23 years, was caught in the eye of a storm following former chief minister Kamal Nath's "item" remark.
Imarti Devi is among the 22 loyalists of Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia who had resigned from the Congress and joined BJP leading to the collapse of the Nath government.
It may be noted that during the election campaigning, Imarti Devi had once said that the collector of the area was in her favour and she will easily win from Dabra.
She was the Women and Child Development Minister in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government. Imarti Devi’s party BJP, however, won 19 seats in the Madhya Pradesh by-election. Just before the counting of votes, Imarti Devi had claimed that she will win by a huge margin of more than 80 thousand votes. However, till the results came, she had got less than 50 thousand votes.
Imarti Devi was earlier leading as the counting of votes began for the by-election held in MP. Reacting to the earlier trends, Imarti Devi had claimed that the “people of Dabra have taught a lesson to the former chief minister Kamal Nath who had made an objectionable remark at her.
Till the last results came in, the BJP had won 19 out of the 28 assembly constituencies where bypolls were held in Madhya Pradesh, giving it enough numbers to achieve a majority in the House and provide stability to its government in the state, where it came to power in March.
On the other hand, Congress, which lost power eight months ago following a revolt by a section of its MLAs, could bag three seats so far. Voting for by-elections on 28 constituencies was held on November 3 and counting of ballots was taken up on Tuesday.
In the 230-member House, the BJP tally has increased to 126 (well above the simple majority mark of 116) with the addition of these 19 seats, providing stability to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. Before the bypolls, the BJP's tally in the House stood at 107.
The seats that the BJP had won were - Bhander, Bamori, Ashok Nagar, Mungaoli, Surkhi, Anuppur, Sanchi, Hatpipalya, Mandhata, Nepanagar, Badnawar and Suwasara. The Congress won Morena, Biora and Agar assembly segments.
Prominent BJP minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary won the bypolls from Sanchi with a margin of 63,809 votes - the highest so far. The lowest victory margin recorded so far is 161 in Bhander where BJP candidate Raksha Saronia defeated Dalit leader Phool Singh Bariaya of the Congress. Besides Choudhary, other ministers who won are Govind Singh Rajput (from Surkhi seat), Mahendra Singh Sisodia (Bamori), Bisahulal Singh (Anuppur), Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon (Badnawar), Hardeep Singh Dung (Suwasara) and Brajendra Singh Yadav (Mungaoli).
Reacting to the results so far, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the outcome proves voters supported the decision taken by Congress MLAs to pull down the previous Kamal Nath dispensation.
"It has been proved today that the public has supported the decision taken by our MLA colleagues under the leadership of Scindia (BJPs Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia) to pull down the (Nath) government," Chouhan told party workers in his address as bypoll results poured in.
Alleging rampant corruption under the previous Congress government, Chouhan said the outcome is a defeat of "ego and arrogance". He said the BJP has secured 11 per cent more votes than the Congress and termed it as an "incredible" achievement. "We won seats with huge margins and lost with thin margins. We humbly accept the victory," he said.
On the other hand, MP Congress president Kamal Nath accepted the defeat and said the party made efforts to reach out to people. "We accept the mandate. We made every effort to reach out to voters. I also thank all voters who participated in the by-elections.
