The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Kamlesh Pratap Shah on Saturday won the byelection to the Amarwara (reserved, Scheduled Tribes) Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara, defeating the Congress candidate Dheeran Sah Invati in a closely fought contest.
The counting of votes polled on July 10 witnessed a seesaw-like situation emerge between the two parties, with Mr. Shah finally emerging victorious by 3,027 votes. While Mr. Shah secured 83,105 votes, Mr. Invati bagged 80,078 votes. The Gondwara Gantantra Party’s (GGP) Devraven Bhalavi remained in third position with 28,723 votes.
The outcome of the closely fought election comes as a fresh blow to the Congress as the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath lost in his family’s bastion of Chhindwara to the BJP’s Vivek Bunty Sahu in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election.
Mr. Shah, a three-term MLA and a former associate of Mr. Kamal Nath, had moved from the Congress to the BJP and resigned from his legislative membership just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha election in Chhindwara on April 19, mandating the bypoll in Amarwara.
Mr. Shah was among several confidants of Mr. Kamal Nath who switched sides ahead of the Lok Sabha election, in a move that is seen as one of the reasons behind Mr. Nakul Nath’s defeat.
This time with the BJP, Mr. Shah faced a tough challenge from Mr. Invati, a new entrant in politics, whose father is the head priest of Anchal Kund Dham, a prominent Hindu temple for the tribal community of the area.
Mr. Invati’s family is also considered close to Mr. Kamal Nath, with the Congress veteran saying during a poll rally that he had to speak with Mr. Invati’s father to convince him to contest the polls.
The bypoll saw extensive campaigning from the top State leaders of both parties, including the Nath father-son duo; State Congress chief Jitu Patwari; Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Mr. Sahu, among others from the BJP, making it a battle of prestige for both sides.
Mr. Kamal Nath had termed the bypoll an “election of betrayal”, and made an emotional appeal to voters for Mr. Invati.
After the bypoll results were announced, the Congress alleged “misuse of administration by the BJP”, and said that the party’s demand for a recount had been turned down by the authorities.
“The entire machinery of the Madhya Pradesh government stood with BJP candidate Kamlesh Pratap Shah. The victory by a small margin of votes after doing deceitful politics in the presence of the CM Mohan Yadav ji and with the help of the government administration shows that the people of Amarwara have rejected the current State Government and given a befitting reply,” Mr. Nakul Nath said on social media platform X.
“We had given a request for recounting. But it was rejected by the administration. The administration is not giving us permission for a recounting due to the pressure from BJP government,” Mr. Invati said, speaking to reporters.
Mr. Patwari blamed the division of votes for his party’s loss, and said that the BJP had “fielded the GGP candidate as part of a well-planned conspiracy”. The GGP’s Mr. Bhalavi secured over 28,000 votes.
The Chief Minister, who was in Mumbai for an investors’ summit, said the BJP’s victory in the bypoll after the Lok Sabha election is a result of the public’s trust in the government and in the party’s ideology.
In the 2023 Assembly election, the Congress had won all seven seats under the Chhindwara Lok Sabha segment, while after the bypoll, the BJP holds one of them.
