Kanker (Chattisgarh): Congress scored a hattrick in the Bhanupratappur while the BJP suffered the fifth successive defeat in bypolls in the Congress-ruled state on Thursday. According to the Election Commission, the Congress candidate won by a margin of 21,171 votes over her nearest rival BJP's Brahmanand Netam.
While Mandavi polled 65,479 votes, Netal got 44,308 votes. Former IPS officer Akbar Ram Korram, who contested as an independent managed to poll an impressive 23,417 votes. The seat reserved for ST candidates witnessed a voter turn out of 71.74 per cent in the by-election necessitated with the death of sitting Congress MLA Manoj Singh Mandavi.
Speaking on Congress's victory, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that the people of Bhanupratappur have given their mandate in favor of the development work done by the Congress government over the last four years. He also said the fact that the late MLA Manoj Singh Mandavi's cordial relation with the people of the constituency also played a key role in the victory of the grand old party.
As for Sarva Adivasi Samaj (SAS) candidate Korram securing the third spot, the Chief Minister "Statistics shows that the number of votes secured by the SAS nominee was the same as polled by Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the 2018 assembly election. This time, both JCC (J) and AAP did not contest. I don't think that SAS has its own vote base. It seems SAS's candidate has received votes of JCC (J) and AAP." With the victory in the bypoll, Congress' tally in the 90-member Assembly will remain unchanged at 71.
As many as 4251 voters opted for NOTA. Four candidates, Gondvana Gantantra Party's Diamond Netam (2485), Diamond Netam of Rashtriya Janata Party (813), Shivlal Pudo of Ambedkarite Party of India (1309), in Independent candidate Dinesh Kumar Kallo (3851) got less votes than NOTA.
