By IANS,
Bhopal/Patna : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday won the Jabera and Purnia by-elections in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar respectively.
Dashrath Singh Lodhi of Madhya Pradesh’s ruling BJP won from Jabera, defeating his nearest Congress rival Tanya Solomon by over 11,738 votes, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer P.C. Meena said.
Tanya is daughter of five-time Jabera legislator Ratnesh Solomon, whose death left the seat vacant.
Jabera is in Damoh district, over 250 km from here. It is the third by-poll victory for the BJP this year in Madhya Pradesh. It earlier victories came in Sonkatch and Kukshi in February.
Kiran Keshri of the BJP, an alliance partner in Bihar’s Nitish Kumar government, retained the Purnia assembly seat, defeating Ramcharitra Yadav of the Congress by over 22,000 votes.
Kiran is the widow of late BJP legislator Raj Kishore Keshri, who was stabbed to death by school teacher Rupam Pathak at his residence allegedly for sexually exploiting her. His death caused the bypoll.
It was the first by-election after Nitish Kumar’s National Democratic Alliance won the polls last year.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed the BJP victory.
Congress leader Ajay Singh conceded defeat, but said the BJP had “misused government machinery to win the seat” in Madhya Pradesh.