A screenshot of an election result is being shared on social media claiming that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the Jaora constituency in Madhya Pradesh lost the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Elections by just one vote. The election result image shared in the post indicates that BJP candidate Rajendra Pandey is trailing behind Congress candidate K. K. Kalukheda by a margin of one vote. Sharing the picture, the post urges everyone to participate in the election and vote for BJP for a non-corrupt government. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: BJP candidate from the Jaora constituency in Madhya Pradesh lost the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Elections by just one vote.
Fact: In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Elections, Rajendra Pandey, the BJP candidate, secured a win against Congress candidate K. K. Singh Kalukheda in the Jaora constituency. Rajendra Pandey won against K. K. Singh Kalukheda with a margin of 511 votes in the Jaora constituency. The screenshot shared in the post does not show the final result of the Jaora constituency in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On observing the photo shared in the post carefully, one could see a header, “Counting in Progress”, above the statistical data. On searching for the details of the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Election results, we found the constituency-wise final election results in the ‘2018 Vidhan Sabha Elections Result Book of Madhya Pradesh’ document published on the ‘Chief Electoral Officer Madhya Pradesh’ website.
According to the details provided in the document, in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Elections, BJP candidate Rajendra Pandey emerged victorious against Congress candidate K. K. Singh Kalukheda in the Jaora constituency. Rajendra Pandey, who contested on the BJP ticket, secured 64,503 votes, while K. K. Singh Kalukheda garnered 63,992 votes in the Jaora constituency of Madhya Pradesh. Rajendra Pandey won by a margin of 511 votes against K. K. Singh Kalukheda in the Jaora constituency.
According to reports, there have been at least two instances in the past where an individual won a legislative seat by securing just one more vote than the runner-up. However, it is important to note that Rajendra Pandey did not lose the Jaora constituency to K. K. Singh Kalukheda, as indicated in the post. The 2023 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly Elections took place on 17 November 2023, and the counting is scheduled for 3 December 2023.
To sum it up, BJP candidate Rajendra Pandey did not lose the Jaora constituency by a margin of one vote in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Elections.
