Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel.
Credit: PTI Photo
Raipur: Senior BJP leader and former minister Brijmohan Agrawal registered the highest victory margin of 67,719 votes in the Chhattisgarh assembly polls after he defeated his nearest rival from Congress in Raipur City South constituency.
In Kanker assembly seat, BJP candidate Asharam Netam scraped through with just 16 votes.
With the victory after vote counting on Sunday, Agrawal became the eighth straight-term MLA and remained unbeaten since 1990. He secured 1,09,263 votes against 41,544 votes polled by Congress’ Mahant Ramsundar Das.
The BJP on Sunday wrested power from Congress in Chhattisgarh, winning 54 of the 90 seats in the state assembly, while the grand old party got 35 seats, a far cry from the 68 it bagged in the last elections.
The Gondvana Gantantra Party won a seat.
According to political analysts, the Congress does not have a leader in the state capital of Agrawal's stature. He has nurtured his constituency very well, being in constant touch with his voters and willing to help them when required.
O P Choudhary (Kharsia with 64,443 margin) is the only other leader in the newly elected 90-member assembly who has won by a margin of more than 50,000 votes.
BJP's Vijay Sharma polled the highest number of votes at 1,44,257 compared to other candidates in the state in this election. Sharma defeated senior Congress leader and minister Mohammad Akbar in Kawardha seat by a margin of 39,592 votes.
In Kanker, BJP's Asharam Netam won the election by the lowest margin of 16 votes against Congress candidate Shankar Dhruwa.
Netam, who was elected as an MLA for the first time, got 67,980 votes while Dhruwa got 67,964 votes.
Senior Congress leader and state Deputy Chief Minister Singh Deo lost the Ambikapur seat by a thin margin of 94 votes against BJP’s Rajesh Agrawal. Singh Deo got 90,686 votes against Agrawal who secured 90,780 votes.