The Congress candidate's decision to withdraw played a major role in the landslide victory of the BJP's Shankar Lalwani from the Indore Lok Sabha constituency, Madhya Pradesh minister Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday.
Mr Lalwani won by 11.75 lakh votes against his nearest BSP rival, though the second-highest votes were bagged by NOTA.
Akshay Kanti Bam, the Congress candidate, pulled out of the fray on the last day of withdrawal of nominations, leaving the opposition party without any candidate in Indore and offering the BJP a near walk-over. Bam joined the BJP soon thereafter.
"I think Lalwani has won by such a big margin that no one can beat his record. The credit for this goes to Bam also. Applaud (for Bam) again," said Vijayvargiya at an official function on the occasion of World Environment Day where Bam was also present on the stage.
The minister launched the renovation of an ancient stepwell as part of the Madhya Pradesh government's 'Namami Gange' campaign here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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