MUMBAI: The
BJP on Thursday lost the Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha seat to the
NCP in the recently-held bypolls in Maharashtra.
In Bhandara-Gondiya seat was previously won by the BJP. However, this time
Madhukar Kukade of the NCP won by 48,097 votes defeating Hemant Patle of the saffron party.
Kukade polled 4,42,213 votes as against 3,94,116 of the BJP in a direct contest.
The bypoll in this constituency was necessitated as BJP MP Nana Patole had quit the Lok Sabha membership as well as the party after publicly criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's style of functioning.
Later he joined the Congress, with which he had been associated earlier.
With this win, NCP's number in the Lok Sabha has gone up to five while BJP's number of MPs in the lower house from the state has reduced to 22.