Will introspect Chitrakoot bypoll loss, says Shivraj Singh Chouhan

The Congress on Sunday retained the Chitrakoot Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh.

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Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will introspect the reason behind the Chitrakoot Assembly bypoll debacle.

Speaking to media, he further said that the BJP tried its best to sweep the by-polls but could not make it.

"The BJP tried its best to win the by-polls but Congress registered its victory. We will analyze the reasons of the debacle," Chouhan said, as per ANI.

चित्रकट उपचुनाव मे जनता के निर्णय को शिरोधार। जनमत ही लोकतत्र का असली आधार है। जनता के सहयोग के लिए आभार व्यक्त करता हू। चित्रकूट के विकास में किसी तरह की कमी नहीं होगी। के कोने-कोने का विकास ही मेरा परम ध्येय है। — ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) November 12, 2017

The Congress retained the Chitrakoot Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh with its candidate winning the seat in a bypoll with an improved margin of over 14,000 votes.

In the 2013 Assembly polls, the party had won the seat with a margin of 10,970 votes.

Congress' Nilanshu Chaturvedi defeated his nearest rival, Shankar Dayal Tripathi of the BJP, by 14,133 votes in the bypoll which was held on November 9, returning officer AP Dwivedi said, PTI reported.

Chaturvedi polled 66,810 votes, while Tripathi had to be content with 52,677 votes. As many as 2,455 votes were polled under the 'none of the above' (NOTA) category.

The bypoll was necessitated in the Assembly segment following the death of its Congress MLA Prem Singh (65).

Singh had won from Chitrakoot, bordering Uttar Pradesh, in 1998, 2003 and 2013 state Assembly polls. In 2008, he had lost the seat to BJP's Surendra Singh Gaharwar.

Though 12 candidates were in the fray, the main contest in the bypoll was between Chaturvedi and Tripathi.

(With Agency inputs)