Indore, MP, Nov 6 (UNI) Languishing out of power in Madhya Pradesh since the past 15 years, the principal-opposition Congress would need to move heaven and earth to pull off a turnaround in nine assembly seats in Indore – which is the stronghold of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwarts Sumitra Mahajan and Kailash Vijayvargiya.
In the previous assembly elections, the BJP emerged triumphant in eight constituencies – Mr Sudarshan Gupta from Indore-1, Mr Ramesh Mendola from Indore-2, Ms Usha Thakur from Indore-3, Ms Malini Lakshman Singh Gaur from Indore-4, Mr Mahendra Hardia from Indore-5, Mr Manoj Nirbhay Singh Patel from Depalpur, Mr Rajesh Sonkar from Sanver (Reseved) and Mr Kailash Vijayvargiya from Mhow.
On the other hand, the Congress could manage to capture only Rau seat – represented by Mr Jitu Patwar.
The ruling BJP has refrained from declaring candidates for all nine seats from Indore despite releasing two lists thus far.
In Indore-1, BJP candidate Sudarshan Gupta defeated his nearest rival and independent candidate Kamlesh Khandelwal by a huge margin of 54,176 votes. While the BJP candidate got 99,558 votes, his opponent had to contend with 45,382 votes.
In Indore-2, BJP nominee Ramesh Mandola beat his nearest Congress rival Chhotu Shukla by a mammoth margin of 91,017 votes. Mr Shukla received 42,652 votes as against 1,33,669 votes secured by Mr Mendola.
In Indore-3, BJP candidate Usha Thakur defeated her Congress opponent Ashwin Joshi by a difference of 13,318 votes. Whereas Ms Thakur got 68,334 votes, Mr Joshi secured 55,016 votes.
Similarly, in Indore-4, the BJP's Malini Laxman Singh Gaud defeated her Congress rival Suresh Minda by 33,823 votes. While Ms Gaur received 91,998 votes, Mr Minda obtained 58,175 votes.
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