Dehradun, Oct 13: The Congress today suffered a setback in the Lok Sabha by-elections when it lost the Tehri seat in Uttarakhand with the chief minister's son losing the byelection.
In the prestigious Tehri seat vacated by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, his son and Congress candidate Saket Bahuguna lost to BJP's Mala Raj Laxmi Shah, the daughter-in-law of erstwhile Tehri royal family scion Manvendra Shah, who had represented the seat for a record eight times.
Shah won by a margin of 22,431 votes over her nearest rival Bahuguna in a field of 14 candidates. Shah polled 2,45,292 votes against Bahuguna's 2,22,861 votes.
BJP maintained lead against Congress in most of the assembly segments of the constituency throughout the counting process which began at 0800 hours here amid tight security.
As the counting progressed, BJP's lead continued to surge with the party taking a decisive edge in Dehradun district with Shah forging ahead by miles against Saket in six out of the seven assembly segments in the distict.
Immediately after the victory, BJP workers thronged the streets distributing sweets, applying 'gulal' on each other, setting of firecrackers and raising slogans against price rise and the cap on LPG cylinders which were the opposition's major poll planks.
BJP thus snatched the seat from Congress which fell vacant after Vijay Bahuguna resigned from it following his win from Sitarganj Assembly constituency.
Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah's father-in-law and the scion of erstwhile Tehri royal family late Manvendra Shah had held the seat for a record eight times.
It was only after his death that Vijay Bahuguna tasted his maiden victory from the seat in 2007.
The campaigning for the bypoll saw Congress seeking votes in the name of development and BJP flagging the issues of corruption and price rise.
Though both Shah and Saket were first timers in the electoral fray, the Tehri royal family member is not new to politics, having looked after the poll campaigns of her father-in-law for years and enjoying a direct contact with the people of her constituency.
Saket, on the other hand, is a relative greenhorn who quit a job with a multi-national company to contest the bypoll.
BJP's strategy of fielding Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah from the seat paid off considering the traditional clout weilded by her family among the people of the constituency.
The poll victory has also come as a comfort for BJP after its defeat at the hands of Congress in Sitarganj assembly where it had to field a second nominee after its first choice withdew in favour of Vijay Bahuguna.
