BJP rigged Vijaypur bypoll in Madhya Pradesh by roping in goons to attack citizens, claims Congress; seeks repolling

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Thursday accused the BJP of rigging the by-election to Vijaypur assembly seat in the state by roping in goons to intimidate and attack some local citizens, and demanded repolling in 37 polling booths.

The opposition party also claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers desecrated the statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in Vijaypur constituency in Sheopur district on the night of polling.

In a press conference held here, MP Congress president Jitu Patwari claimed that the state machinery was blatantly misused to benefit the BJP during the bypolls to Vijaypur and Budhni constituencies on Wednesday.

But the Congress will win the by-election in Vijaypur even after the violence orchestrated by the BJP, he said.

"A reign of terror was unleashed on Jatavs (a Dalit community) and tribal people in Vijaypur before and after the by-elections on Wednesday. The BJP went on a rampage. Many tribal-dominated areas came under their attack. The properties of Dalits were torched. BJP workers also desecrated a statute of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar at night," he alleged.

"It was for the first time that even dacoits were roped in to influence elections. Dacoit Bunty Rawat from Rajasthan, who faces 40 criminal cases, created terror in Vijaypur as he brought eight other dacoits to influence the elections. He was caught by people, who finally handed him over to the police," he said.

The state machinery was blatantly misused to benefit the BJP during the by-polls to both the constituencies in the saffron party-ruled state, according to Patwari.

"We have sought repolling in 37 polling booths in Vijaypur," he said.

"Even after the BJP's nefarious design of rigging the by-elections, we are going to win. We were expecting to win the Vijaypur seat by a margin of more than 50,000 votes. But after the BJP orchestrated violence, our victory margin has been halved. We will now win the seat by more than 25,000 votes," he said.

Patwari announced that the party will stage a protest across Madhya Pradesh on Monday against the alleged desecration of Dr Ambedkar's statue.

"We will stage state-wide protests on November 18 against the desecration of Dr Ambedkar's statue," he said.

Asked whether Jatavs and tribals were targeted for their perceived inclination towards the Congress, Patwari said other communities also voted in favour of his party in Vijaypur.

Voter turnouts of 77.85 per cent and 77.32 per cent were recorded in byelections in Vijaypur and Budhni assembly constituencies, as per the data provided by the officials.

The bypoll to Vijaypur constituency was necessitated after sitting Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat joined the BJP and was inducted into the Mohan Yadav-led cabinet. Rawat was pitted against tribal leader Mukesh Malhotra of the Congress.

The Budhni seat in Sehore district fell vacant after sitting MLA and former chief minister Chouhan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Vidisha. Ramakant Bhargava, a close aide of Chouhan, was pitted as BJP candidate against Congress' Rajkumar Patel, a former minister, in Budhni.