BJP registers 1st win from Mant

Agra: Eight-time winner from Mant constituency in Mathura district, Shyam Sunder Sharma, was defeated by BJP’s Rajesh Chaudhary by a margin of over 9,000 votes. Chaudhary, who is BJP’s state spokesperson, secured 83,958 votes against Sharma’s 74,378 votes. He was contesting on a BSP ticket. Sharma, who switched parties off and on, started his winning streak from Mant constituency on a Congress ticket in 1989. In the 2012 elections, he lost to RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary. However, within two months, a by-poll was held after Chaudhary stepped down and retained his Mathura Lok Sabha seat. Sharma won the bypoll on a Trinamool Congress ticket. In 2017, Sharma had jumped the fence before polls and joined BSP. He had won with a slim margin of 432 votes from RLD candidate Yogesh Chaudhary, who got 65,430 votes. Anuja Jaiswal