By Our Staff Reporter
Bhopal, April 16:
Just ahead of the fast approaching Assembly elections in the State, Madhya Pradesh's main Opposition party- Congress on Wednesday faced a major blow by losing Betul Lok Sabha by-elections.
In a 12-cornered contest, Congress lost Betul by-poll by a margin of 35,440 votes. BJP's Hemant Khandelwal secured 3,00,674 votes to defeat Congress rival Sukhdev Panse, a sitting MLA, who polled 2,65,234 votes.
"After the 12 and final round of counting, Hemant Khandelwal defeated Sukhdev Panse by a margin of over 35,440 votes", said Arun Bhatt, Returning Officer and District Magistrate of Betul on Wednesday.
Independent candidate Rewaram secured 23,051 votes and stood in the third place, while Samajwadi Party's Dr Sunilam, a sitting MLA, finished fourth securing 21,698 votes.
The voting to the by-poll was held on Saturday. The by-poll was necessitated after BJP's Vijay Khandelwal passed away last November.
Newly appointed Pradesh Congress Committee chief Suresh Pachauri and Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath had worked a lot for the party's victory in the Betul by-polls.
The by-poll was the first one after Pachauri became PCC chief in February, while Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamalnath had extensively camped for the victory of party candidate.
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