BJP’s Sulochana Rawat wins Jobat seat, thanks voters for choosing a woman

Bhopal : BJP’s Sulochana Rawat won Jobat Assembly bypoll with a margin of 6,080 votes against Congress’ Mahesh Rawat Patel as counting ended on Tuesday.

As per the state Election Commission’s report, Sulochna has received a total 68,752 votes against Patel’s 62,672 votes after the final result was announced on Tuesday.

Jobat assembly seat was reserved for Schedule Tribe (ST). Sulochna, a turncoat, had joined the BJP few days before the by-elections.

By-election to Jobat assembly seat was necessitated after the death of former Congress MLA Kalawati Bhartiya.

Sulochna, who has been active in politics for the last 25 years, had started her political career by contesting bypoll from Congress ticket in 1996.

So far, she has fought five assembly elections, including this one and has won four of them.

Earlier, she was a state minister for Narmada Ghati Development Authority in 1998. “I would thank all party workers and leaders who worked hard to make my win possible. People have shown faith in me, that is important,” Sulochna said while .

Reacting after winning Jobat Assembly seat, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “Winning Jobat seat is very special to me and for the entire BJP team. It is a Schedule Tribe seat and the Congress had spread lies that the BJP is anti-adivasis. We launched several schemes for the ST community and today we got the result.”

Counting of votes in two other assembly and one Khandwa Lok Sabha seat is underway. In Khandwa, BJP is leading with a margin of over 40,000 votes. The party is also leading in Prithvipur Assembly seat, but is lagging behind the Congress in Raigon assembly seat.