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ELECTION 99
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A eunuch becomes a legislator

A eunuch has created history by making it to the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, winning the Sohagpur seat in the assembly by-elections as an independent candidate.

Of the remaining three seats for which by-elections was held on February 17, the Congress bagged two and the Bharatiya Janata Party one.

Shabnam Mausi, an independent candidate, beat the Congress candidate by a margin of 17,863 votes in a multi-cornered contest to grab the Sohagpur seat. The Congress was relegated to the third place this time.

Buoyed at their success in the recent local body elections, two eunuchs had checked their luck out in the by-election.

Hirabai, the other eunuch, who was recently elected corporator from a ward in Jabalpur had entered the fray in Jabalpur (central) assembly constituency and came third in the contest.

Eunuch Kamla Jaan becoming mayor of Katni, Hirabai a corporator in Jabalpur, two other eunuchs being elected to local bodies and, now, Shabnam Mausi's win is seen as a sign of the voters' annoyance with non-performing political parties.

The Congress retained the Rajim seat when Amitesh Shukla, son of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shyama Charan Shukla, defeated his nearest BJP rival, Dr Neena Singh, by a margin of 11367 votes.

In a multi-cornered contest, Shukla cornered 51,309 votes while Singh mustered 39,942 votes. Gondwana Gantantra Party nominee Shailendra Kumar Dhruv and two independents were also in the fray from Rajim. Election were held to the Rajim seat because senior Congress leader Shyama Charan Shukla was elected to the Lok Sabha last year.

Congress nominee Naresh Saraf wrested the Jabalpur (central) seat, scoring 10,099 more than his nearest BJP rival, Anaro Devi. The seat had become vacant following the death of Omkar Prasad Tiwari (BJP).

The BJP retained its dominance in the Bhojpur assembly seat, its nominee Naresh Patel defeating Congress candidate Shaligram Srivastava by a margin of 3039 votes. The by-election to the Bhojpur seat was held because former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Sunderlal Patwa (BJP) was elected to the Lok Sabha.

UNI

Assembly Election 2000

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