The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in Chhattisgarh on Thursday, retained the Sanjari Balod assembly seat in the by-election.
The by-election for Sanjari Balod, in Durg district, was necessitated following the death of BJP legislator Madanlal Sahu in August last year. The BJP pitted his wife Kumaribai Sahu against Congres's Mohan Patel.
BJP's candidate Kumari Bai Sahu trounced the Congress candidate by a margin of about 9300 votes. The counting of votes for the polling, that was held on February 14, started today morning and by afternoon, the result was out.
A total of 15 candidates were in the fray. Of them 13 lost deposits.
With the Sanjari Balod by-poll result, the tally of the BJP in the 90-member state assembly has now increased to 49 while the opposition Congress has 39 members and the Bahujan Samaj Party two.
The state Congress Committee President, Dhanendra Sahu said that the election result was a setback but the party accepted the peoples' verdict in Sanjari Balod. "The party will review what went wrong," he said.
Chief Minister Raman Singh attributed the results to the development works carried out in the state by the ruling BJP and people's endorsement to the state government's policies.
