Datia Bypoll Results: Congress Retains Seat As Ghanshyam Singh Defeats BJP By 6,016 Votes

Published 3 August 2026 · local

Datia Bypoll Results: Congress Retains Seat As Ghanshyam Singh Defeats BJP By 6,016 Votes Published By, Last Updated: August 03, 2026, 18:17 IST Congress retained

Datia Bypoll Results: Congress Retains Seat As Ghanshyam Singh Defeats BJP By 6,016 Votes Published By, Last Updated: August 03, 2026, 18:17 IST Congress retained the Datia Assembly seat with Ghanshyam Singh defeating BJP's Ashutosh Tiwari by 6,016 votes in the bypoll. Rapid Read Congress leader Kunwar Ghanshyam Singh. (Photo | Facebook) Congress retained the Datia Assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh as its candidate, Ghanshyam Singh, defeated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Ashutosh Tiwari by 6,016 votes in the bypoll. According to the Election Commission, Singh secured 66,757 votes, while Tiwari polled 60,741 votes. Damodar Yadav ‘Mandal’ of the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) finished a distant third with 22,527 votes. The bypoll was held on July 30 and recorded a voter turnout of 71.44 per cent.

It was necessitated after the assembly membership of former Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti was terminated following his conviction in a cheating case by a Delhi court. The victory enabled the Congress to retain the Datia seat, which the party had won in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. The bypoll was closely watched as one of the key political contests in the state, with the BJP and Congress locked in a direct fight for the constituency. Counting was conducted under tight security, with the contest drawing close attention from political parties and voters alike. During polling, the Congress alleged abuse of power and irregularities, allegations that were rejected by the district administration. Voting was held from 7 am to 6 pm across 291 polling stations, including 186 in rural areas and 105 in urban areas.

A total of 21 candidates contested the election, though the main contest was between the Congress’ Ghanshyam Singh and the BJP’s Ashutosh Tiwari. Damodar Singh Yadav of the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) was the other prominent candidate in the fray. The bypoll was necessitated after Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti was disqualified following his conviction in a cheating case by a Delhi court. Bharti, who had defeated former Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra by 7,742 votes in the 2023 Assembly elections, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in April this year for forging bank records to obtain illegal interest payments between 1998 and 2011. He was later granted bail. The 2023 Assembly election in Datia had recorded the constituency’s highest-ever voter turnout of 80.20 per cent, making the bypoll one of the state’s closely watched electoral contests.