With considerable ease, the ruling BJP has defeated the Congress in an important by-election in Madhya Pradesh at a time when the government is accused of a major corruption scam by the Opposition.
The BJP's Chander Singh Sisodia defeated Congress candidate Subhash Sajotiya by nearly 14,000 votes in the by-election for the assembly seat of Garoth in the western part of the state.
In March, the BJP's Rajesh Yadav, the legislator from here, passed away.
Voting was held on Saturday.
The victory for the BJP comes as Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, now in his third term is confronting allegations of the involvement of top party leaders and government officers in a scam which saw hired imposters taking the exams for entrance to educational institutions and recruitment to government jobs. 25 linked to the scam -either as accused or witnesses -have died since 2010 .
Yesterday, minister Babulal Gaur created a new political furore by declaring that "natural causes" are to blame for the nearly two dozen deaths.
Mr Chouhan's government has rejected the opposition Congress' demand for a CBI inquiry. It says that the Special Task force team handling the investigation is being monitored by the Special Investigation Team which reports to the Jabalpur High Court.