Fielding former BSP candidate paid off for Congress
Hindustan Times | ByShams Ur Rehman Alavi, Bhopal
Aug 27, 2014 04:51 PM IST
The important factor that helped the Congress wrest Bahoriband seat from the BJP appears to be the candidature of Saurabh Singh, who had contested on BSP ticket in the last assembly election.
The most important factor that helped the Congress to wrest Bahoriband assembly seat from the BJP appears to be the candidature of Saurabh Singh, who had contested on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket in the last assembly election.
Singh had got a sizable vote share in the last election and this vote base was exactly what the Congress had in mind while fielding him. The gamble paid off.
The victory in Bahoriband has also revived the talk that the selection of good candidates can help boost the fortunes of the Congress, which has lost three previous assembly elections.
Many were sceptical of Congress’ prospects on Bahoriband seat after former Congress MLA Nishith Patel, who was accused of working against party, had joined the BJP.
Winning the seat despite these odds will surely boost the morale of the cadres, though the party leaders were expecting a better performance, like in Uttarakhand assembly by-poll and municipal polls in MP recently.
The BJP won the other two seats, Vijayraghogarh and Agar, comfortably.