The Congress can find solace in its defeat to the BJP in the May 8 bypoll to Bastar (ST) parliamentary constituency: at least the namesake of the Congress candidate could poll more votes than the namesake of the BJP nominee.
According to polling figures available with the chief electoral office (CEO) here, Dinesh Kashyap (Independent) secured only 7,607 votes, ranking at the bottom among eight contestants in the byelection.
However, Kawasi Lakhma (Independent) polled 32,969 votes.
The BJP’s Dinesh Kashyap won the bypolls trouncing his nearest Congress rival Kawasi Lakhma by a margin of 88,929 votes.
While the BJP candidate got 2,86,726 votes, Congress nominee polled 1,97,807 votes.