By IANS
Bhopal : Samajawadi Party candidate Kishore Samrite Saturday won the by-election to the Lanjhi assembly seat, stunning the Madhya Pradesh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).
Samrite, contesting the election from jail, bagged 28,779 votes against 25,045 votes polled by his nearest rival Dhareshwari Bhatere of the BJP.
Samrite has been behind the bars since early this year in a case of arson and loot.
Over 70 percent votes were polled Tuesday in the constituency in the Maoist-affected Balaghat district.
Though 19 candidates including Bharatiya Janshakti Party’s Badhuram Devgadhe, Janta Party’s Kankar Munjare and Rajeshwar Choudhary of the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) – were in the fray, the main contest was between Bhatere and Bhagvat Bhau Nagpure of the Congress who eventually slipped to third position.
The seat had fallen vacant following the death of former BJP minister Dilip Bhatere. The BJP had fielded his wife with an eye on a possible sympathy vote.