Here I am talking about the much talked about byelection of Betul-Harda Parliamentary constituency which BJP has won hands down. Before this bypoll, the party had suffered consecutive embarrassments in assembly by-elections. The media was speculative and skeptical also, but Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was confident of BJP's victory since he knew that earlier poll embarrassments were due to some local factors and division of votes, not due to dipping his or his party's popularity and base. With this in mind, Chouhan sorted the gray area out, worked tirelessly without entering into any poll gimmicks and ensured his party candidate's victory in a free and fair polls about which the opposition parties had nothing to grumble but to accept their defeat.

Chouhan is a man of firm conviction but humble disposition. That is why he termed the victory of Hemant Khandelwal as the victory of the `hard work' of party workers and the love and trust reposed by the common people in the working of the BJP. Soon after Betul recapture, the Chief Minister said at a press conference that 'This victory has proved that elections could be won by development and carrying out welfare works as in front of the good works done by the government, the people will not be misled by any disinformation campaign. The people have put seal to the number of welfare schemes including Ladli Laxmi Yojna.

The Chief Minister clarified saying he did not make winning of this seat as a prestige issue. I am a humble servant and this is the victory of the people. This was not an election of Kamalnath or Shivraj. Elections are never won by boasting.

Answering to queries, Chouhan said that he does not believe in seeking resignation of Kamalnath. The Congress is terrified of me. The accusations, which they had put on me, let them think over them again.

It may be mentioned that BJP leader Hemant Khandelwal, who was elected to the Lok Sabha in the by-election from Betul, led in six of the eight Assembly segments, while his Congress rival Sukhdev Panse was ahead of his rivals in Harda and Masaud segments.

Khandelwal polled a total of 3,00,674 votes against 2,65,234 scored by Panse, a sitting MLA thus defeating his Congress rival by 35,440 votes. The BJP won the seat for the fifth time in a row. Samajwadi Party MLA Sunilam came fourth bagging only 21,698 votes, while Rewaram, one of the seven independents, came third bagging 23,051 votes.

Gondwana Gantantra Party chief Hira Singh Markam got 11,066 votes, while Samajwadi Jan Parishad nominee Mangal Singh Lokhande polled 4,493 votes. Votes polled by independents include Ashok (1,859 votes), Udal Prasad (4,051),

Prem Kumar Uike (6,852), Bhagcharan (3,734), Manjit Singh (3,897) and Mansaram (9,440). Total valid votes were 6,56,049.

National BJP general secretary and in charge of Madhya Pradesh affairs Venkaiah Naidu said that it was a victory of the good work done by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. It was also an indication for the future.

"Despite massive negative and false propaganda by Congress and pseudo secular forces, the people of Betul have given a clear message that they want the BJP to come back to power. It also speaks of the popularity of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. I congratulate the Madhya Pradesh BJP unit led by Narendra Singh Tomar and his colleagues particularly the workers of BJP of Betul parliamentary constituency," he added.

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.

Muslim Saleem