Congress wrests back Bidar from BJP as Raheem Khan defeats Khandre

Bidar, Feb 16: Congress party candidate Raheem Khan made a decisive comeback in the district politics with his impressive win in the byelection for the Bidar North Assembly seat.

The byelection had been necessitated by the death of sitting MLA Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli. Khan had lost to Nagamarapalli in 2013 elections. Khan trounced his nearest rival - BJP candidate Prakash Khandre - by a margin of 22,825 votes, the second highest for the constituency.

The record for the highest victory margin is held by Bandeppa Kashempur, who as an independent candidate then, had defeated Zulfiqar Hashmi by a margin of 27,235 votes in 2004.

JD(S) candidate Ayaz Khan performed poorly with a meagre 4,421 votes and lost his security deposit. Khan dedicated his victory to the people and the support from senior leaders like Dharam Singh, Bhalki MLA Eshwar Khandre and MLC Vijay Singh.

He said the win had increased his responsibility and would encourage him to take forward development works initiated by him in the past. Khan said that he would strive to address problems relating to drinking water and basic amenities.

Jubilant supporters of Khan gathered in large numbers at the counting centre - BVB College in the city - danced to drum beats and burst crackers. A victory procession was taken out through the major roads in the City. Out of the total 2,05,157 eligible voters in the constituency, 1,25,695 had exercised their franchise (voting percentage of 61.26). Of these 65,253 are men, 60,445 women.

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Bidar bypolls: Rahim Khan from Cong, his nephew Ayaz Khan from JD(S), Khandre from BJP