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ISSUES '98
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State:	Madhya Pradesh
Constituency:	Bhopal
Total Votes Polled:	732726
Winner: BJP	Sushil Chandra	353427
Runner Up: INC	Kailash Agnihotri (Kundal)	202533
Margin: 150894 (21.04%)

Shankar Dayal Sharma was elected from here in 1971, before losing to Arif Beg, then of the BLD, in 1977. In 1980 Sharma came back, before moving on to bigger things in life. Since 1989 the seat has gone the BJP way, and the Congress even tried fielding M A K 'Tiger' Pataudi against the BJP, to no avail. In 1996, the BJP's S C Verma -- a former MP chief secretary -- won 49.27 % of the votes, but defeated its Congress rival by 150,000 votes. Arif Beg returns to the fray this time, as Congress candidate.