The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government solidified its position in Madhya Pradesh as the BJP on Tuesday won 19 of the 28 Assembly constituencies that had gone for bypolls in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress, which lost power eight months ago following a revolt by a section of its MLAs led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, bagged eight seats.
The by-elections in the state were necessitated by the resignation of 25 Congress MLAs and death of 3 sitting legislators.
With this win, the BJP tally in the 230-member Assembly has increased to 126—well above the majority mark of 116—providing stability to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. Before the bypolls, the BJP’s tally in the House stood at 107.
Prominent BJP minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary won the bypolls from Sanchi with a margin of 63,809 votes—the highest so far. The lowest victory margin recorded so far is 161 in Bhander where BJP candidate Raksha Saronia defeated Dalit leader Phool Singh Bariaya of the Congress. However, MP’s Women and Child Development Minister Imarti Devi suffered a loss at the hands of Suresh Raje of the Congress from Dabra constituency.
Reacting to the results so far, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “It has been proved today that public has supported the decision taken by our MLA colleagues under the leadership of Scindia (BJPs Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia) to pull down the (Nath) government.”
He also reminded his critics that the BJP has secured 11 per cent more votes than the Congress and termed it as an “incredible” achievement. “We won seats with huge margins and lost with thin margins. We humbly accept the victory,” the CM said.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and former CM Kamal Nath accepted the defeat. “We accept the mandate. We made every effort to reach out to voters. I also thank all voters who participated in the by-elections. I hope that the BJP government will take care of the interest of farmers, provide employment to the youth, maintain the respect and safety of women,” he said.
Scindia too expressed gratitude to the people of Madhya Pradesh for giving a clear mandate in favour of his party and said the verdict of the bypolls proved that Congress leader Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh were traitors. “I am a worker of the Bharatiya Janata Party. I am thankful to the people of the State for giving a clear mandate in favour of the party. Results have proven that Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh are traitors,” Scindia told ANI.
He further said that the Congress party’s situation would get worse if they kept questioning the credibility of electronic voting machines (EVM). “It has become a habit of Congress to deny the people’s mandate by questioning the credibility of EVMs. If they keep doing so, they’ll remain in the same place where they are now, or maybe worse,” he added.
In March, 22 Congress MLAs, mostly loyalists of Scindia, had resigned from the party and the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. This led to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government and cleared the way for the BJP to again come to power. Scindia and his loyalists joined the BJP, with many of them becoming ministers in the Chouhan government.
WITH AGENCY INPUTS