Bhopal, Nov 23 (Reporter) Congress candidate Mukesh Malhotra won the Vijaypur Assembly seat by defeating his nearest rival Ram Niwas Rawat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a margin of over 7,000 votes. According to data provided by the Election Commission here on Saturday, after 21 rounds of counting, Malhotra defeated Rawat by a margin of 7,364 votes. All eyes were fixed on this seat from the beginning. During the counting of votes, Malhotra was leading from the beginning, but in some rounds, he was trailing. The seat was so far held by Rawat under the Congress flag. In the last assembly elections, he was elected MLA from this seat on the Congress ticket, but during the Lok Sabha elections, he left the Congress and joined the BJP. Only after this, he was made the Forest Minister. The by-election was necessitated after he resigned from the Assembly. In the by-election, the BJP fielded him from this tribal-dominated area and the Congress fielded tribal face Mukesh Malhotra. Malhotra had contested from this seat in the last assembly elections and stood third. The Congress had tried its best to retain this seat, while for the BJP the seat also remained a question of prestige...////...