Bhopal, Nov 23 (IANS): BJP retained the Budhni seat as the party's candidate Ramakant Bhargava won the bypoll with a margin of over 13,000 votes.

It is the BJP's seventh consecutive victory in Budhni since 2003, however, the winning margin witnessed a sharp decrease to 13,000 against 1.4 lakh in the previous Assembly election held in November 2023.

BJP stalwart Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who represented the Budhni Assembly seat six times had secured his last victory with a margin of margin of 1,04,974 votes in November 2023.

Meanwhile, Congress has won the Vijaypur Assembly seat with a margin of 7,364 votes marking the second consecutive win for the grand old party.

Congress Mukesh Malhotra, who had joined the party during the Lok Sabha elections this year, defeated BJP's heavyweight and state Forest Minister Ramniwas Rawat with a margin of over 7000 votes.

As per the Election Commission, Malhotra secured a total of 100,469 votes against Rawat's 93,105 votes while Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) candidate Netram Devaria Sahriya secured third position with 1,099 votes.

Interestingly, former MLA Ramniwas Rawat, who had won six elections (between 1990 and 2023) from Vijaypur on Congress' symbol, was contesting his seventh, but the first on BJP's ticket.

He had won the last assembly election in November last year with a margin of more than 17,000 votes, however, later he resigned from the party and joined the BJP and was then included in Chief Minister Mohan Yadav's cabinet.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said the state BJP unit will introspect over the Ramniwas Rawat's defeat.

Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari termed it a victory for party workers while expressing that Vijaypur's win will boost the confidence of the party cadre.

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath also congratulated Malhotra for his victory, saying that the victory in Vijaypur is a clear lesson for those who betray the people.