Sirsa, January 24: The opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) received a moral boost as its candidate Abhey Singh Chautala retained the Ellanabad seat defeating nearest rival Bharat Singh Beniwal of Congress by a margin of 6,227 votes in the Assembly bypoll.
Mr Chautala polled 64,813 votes against his rival Mr Beniwal,who got 58,586 votes in the Ellenabad Assembly constituency by-election held on January 20, for which counting was held here yesterday.
Of the other 13 candidates, most of them Independents, have lost thier deposits in the bypolls which witnessed over 88 per cent voter turnout.
Other major players like the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Haryana Janhit Congress kept away from the electoral battle.
The bypolls were necessiated after Omprakash Chautala, who also won from Uchana Kalan in Jind district in the October 13 Assembly elections, prefered to give up the Ellenabad seat.
–Agencies