Vidisha: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan won by a huge margin of 8.2 lakh votes from Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency.
BJP veteran Shivraj Singh Chouhan has secured 11,16,460 votes while his nearest Congress rival Pratap Bhanu Sharma could manage only 2,95,052 votes, Election Commission data stated.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan said people are like God and serving them is like 'puja'. He said that he will serve people till he is alive. He said that the love that people have showered on him is an expression of their belief on PM Modi. He said that NDA is heading towards crossing 300 seats for the third time and India will become 'Viksit Bharat under PM Modi's leadership.
Chouhan is contesting from Vidisha constituency, a saffron fortress which he had represented five times in Lok Sabha in the past, after almost 17 years. Often referred to as "mama ji" by his supporters, Chouhan was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for 16 years.
Vidisha being his home ground, Chauhan is comfortably placed here, as he aims for a larger role in the national politics. Speculations are rife that if he wins, Chauhan can be made the union agriculture minister as the Modi government has praised his work in the agriculture sector during his tenure as Chief Minister.
The Congress candidate Pratap Bhanu Sharma is also a veteran, who has won from this constituency twice in the 1980s, the only Congress victories in this constituency since its inception in 1967. Vidisha Lok Sabha seat consists of eight Assembly constituencies. Of these, seven are with BJP and one with Congress. .
2024 contest: The total number of registered voters in this constituency in 2024 polls was 1945404, and the seat saw a voting turnout of 74.48% (1449010 total count of votes), according to the Election Commission’s data. The seat went to polls in phase 3 on May 7, 2024.
In the 2019 LS Polls: Ramakant Bhargava of BJP won from Vidisha, getting 853,022 votes, comprising 68.23% of the total number of votes polled. He defeated Congress’ Shailendra Rameshchandra Patel by a significant margin of 5,03,084 votes. In 2014, BJP’s Sushma Swaraj (former external affairs minister who passed away in 2019) had won from this seat, polling 714,348 votes (66.55%) and defeating Lakshman Singh of Congress by a hefty margin of 4,10,698 votes.
