Madhya Pradesh by-polls: BJP retains Agar, Cong leads Bahoriband seat

Agar: The BJP today retained the Agar Assembly seat by a margin of 27,102 votes with its candidate Gopal Parmar defeating Congress’ Rajkumar Gore. The result was announced by the District Returning Officer after the counting was over. [caption id=“attachment_1680077” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] The by-poll was necessitated in Agar (Malwa) after sitting BJP MLA Manohar Untwal got elected as MP from Dewas Lok Sabha seat. Meanwhile, Congress which is striving hard to revive its fortunes in the state after remaining out of power since 2003, received some good news from Bahoriband seat in Katni district where its candidate Sourabh Singh is leading by a margin of 1,750 votes. BJP had won the Bahoriband seat in the 2013 Assembly polls and by-poll was necessitated due to the death of sitting MLA Prabhat Pandey. The ruling party has fielded his son Pranav Pandey from the constituency. In Vijaraghavgarh, BJP’s Sanjay Pathak is leading by a margin of 17,000 votes against Congress’ Brajendra Mishra. Pathak had won the Vijayraghavgarh seat in 2013 from Congress with a thin margin. Later during Lok Sabha polls, he switched over to the BJP due to differences with the party leaders. By-polls in these three constituencies, held last week witnessed a higher turnout of 69.98 per cent, with Bahorband recording 71.80 per cent, Agar 70.09 per cent and Vijayraghavgarh 68.05 per cent. PTI