Congress Retains Datia Assembly Seat in Madhya Pradesh By-Election

The Congress retained the prestigious Datia Assembly seat in northern Madhya Pradesh, winning the by-election on Monday by a margin of 6,016 votes, lower than its winning margin of over 7,700 votes in the 2023 Assembly election. Congress candidate Kunwar Ghanshyam Singh secured 66,757 votes to defeat first-time BJP candidate Ashutosh Tiwari, who polled 60,741 votes. Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) nominee Damodar Singh Yadav finished third with 22,527 votes. A member of Datia's erstwhile royal family, Ghanshyam Singh took the lead from the second round of counting. His lead crossed 13,000 votes by the 13th round before the BJP narrowed the gap considerably in the final two rounds, reducing the victory margin to 6,016 votes. While the Congress celebrated the victory as a reaffirmation of the public mandate, BJP candidate Ashutosh Tiwari termed the result an occasion for introspection. Both major parties, however, appeared to have suffered due to the strong performance of ASP (KR) candidate Damodar Singh Yadav, who secured 14.3 per cent of the vote and is believed to have cut into the support base of both the Congress and the BJP. The Congress's vote share dropped to 42.39 per cent, down from 50.34 per cent in the 2023 Assembly election, while the BJP's vote share fell to 38.57 per cent from 45.96 per cent. Both the Congress and the BJP reportedly faced internal sabotage during the by-election. The Congress acknowledged internal dissent by suspending its 2023 winning candidate and disqualified MLA Rajendra Bharti from the party's primary membership on Sunday night. Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar claimed the Congress would not have won had supporters of former Home Minister Narottam Mishra not backed the party's candidate on polling day. Interestingly, despite Narottam Mishra's long-standing political rivalry with the Congress, Ghanshyam Singh publicly praised the BJP leader during campaigning and claimed that some of Mishra's supporters were in touch with him and would support his candidature. Reports also suggested that the BJP lost at polling booth No. 121, considered Narottam Mishra's own booth, indicating possible sabotage by his loyalists. The Congress, too, was affected by internal dissent. Former minister PC Sharma alleged that had Rajendra Bharti not worked against the party, the Congress would have won by a much larger margin. However, party sources credited former BJP leader Abdhesh Nayak, who joined the Congress in 2023 after being denied a BJP ticket, with remaining loyal despite being denied the Congress nomination in the by-election.