The BJP today retained the Bandhavgarh assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh defeating rival Congress by a margin of over 25,000 votes.

BJP nominee Shivnarayan Singh defeated Congress’ candidate, Savitri Singh, from the seat in Umaria district by 25,476 votes, an election official said.

The bypoll was necessitated as BJP MLA Gyan Singh got elected to the Lok Sabha in November last year from Shahdol in a bye election.

The assembly bypoll to Bandhavgarh was held along with the Ater seat in Bhind district last week.