The Hindu : `A tribute to my father'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 25, 2002

National

National

`A tribute to my father'
By Lalit Shastri

GUNA (Madhya Pradesh), FEB. 24. The scion of the erstwhile ruling family of Gwalior and Congress candidate, Jyotiraditya Scindia, has romped home in his first electoral battle. He was declared elected today in the by-election to the Guna-Shivpuri Lok Sabha seat by defeating his nearest BJP rival, Rao Deshraj Singh Yadav, by a margin of 4,06,568 votes.

Mr. Scindia has described his victory as a ``tribute'' to his late father, senior Congress leader, Madhavrao Scindia. He has particularly thanked the people of Guna-Shivpuri region for extending their support to him. He has also given the credit for his victory to the Congress workers of the area.

From the start of counting itself it became obvious that Mr. Scindia was heading for a massive victory. Around 11.30 a.m., Mr. Scindia was leading by more than one lakh votes in the Guna segment at the end of seven rounds. Similarly, in Shivpuri, he had established a lead of more than one lakh votes by this time.

Mr. Scindia was at the historic Bombay Kothi at Shivpuri till this afternoon. There was jubilation all around as supporters danced to drum beats and distributed sweets pre- empting the formal announcement of the election result. Finally Mr. Scindia emerged and mingled with his supporters who kept cheering and were fiercely competing with each other to greet their leader.

From Shivpuri, Mr. Scindia drove in a procession to receive his election certificate later this afternoon. After the formal declaration of his result, he drove to the Hanuman temple before leading a mammoth victory procession through the town.

On the way from Shivpuri to Guna, villagers had come out in large numbers to greet him with garlands and flowers. They were everywhere - along the highway and on rooftops in villages - just to catch a glimpse of him.

When counting was on, some BJP workers were heard saying that the BJP candidate will forge ahead at least in Guna city but by the end of the day the story was the same at every booth.

Taking a closer look at Mr. Scindia's lead it is clear that the BJP has been completely routed even in areas where it thought it had some support base.

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