The bye-elections to 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh assembly were held recently, the results to which will be declared today. These bypolls were necessitated after 25 MLAs of the erstwhile Congress government switched over to the BJP in March 2020, leading to the fall of Kamal Nath’s 15-month-old government. And, also after the deaths of sitting legislators, three seats were left vacant.  The INC-led government was elected to power in 2018 after the party had won 114 seats in the 230-member House and joined hands with four Independents, two BSP MLAs, and one SP MLA. Jyotiraditya Scindia rocked the boat earlier this year by defecting to the BJP along with 22 other MLAs at first, and then three more. Consequently, while the Congress’ strength was reduced to 88, the BJP, which had won 109 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections, crossed the halfway mark and formed its government under Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan. Currently, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the MP Assembly and needs to win at least nine seats to stay in power. The Congress, on the other hand, needs to win all 28 seats if it wants to return to power or at least 21 in order to give itself a chance to bargain with the BSP, SP, and the independent MLAs.

At stake in Madhya Pradesh are ambitions of national leaders, Kamal Nath of the Congress, and Jyotiraditya Scindia, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Narendra Singh Tomar of the BJP.

Malwa update:

In Malwa region, BJP currently leads in 4 seats, Congress in remaining 2. In the six seats of the Malwa region, a stronghold for the RSS and BJP, INC is leading in two seats, while the BJP is leading in four.  Congress’ Vipin Wankhede in Agar is leading by 100 votes.

Congress’ Rajveer Singh in Hatpipalya is leading with 651 votes. In Mandhata, BJP’s Narayan Singh is leading by 3,100 votes. BJP’s Rajvardhan Singh in Badnawar: is leading by 10,000 votes. Water Resource Minister Tulsiram Silawat is leading in Sanwer (Indore) with a huge margin of 7,000 votes. Premchand Guddu, a strong Scindia critic who had left a Congress to join BJP in 2018 only to return to Congress folds ahead of the bypolls, is trailing. BJP minister and turncoat Hardeep Singh Dang in Suwasra is leading with 3,000 votes.

Gwalior Chambal update:

Of the 16 seats of Gwalior-Chambal, trends of seven are yet to be put out. Of the remaining seats, the Congress is leading in five.

Public Health Minister Adal Singh Kansana of BJP is trailing by 1,863 votes in Sumawli where Congress candidate Ajab Singh Khushwaha is leading. Sumawli is one the most sensitive seats in the Morena district of Gwalior Chambak region. INC’s Ajab Singh Khushwaha had demanded repolls here.

Congress is also leading in Dimani with 877 votes; Gohad with 924 votes; and Ambha with 531 votes. In Gohad, INC’s Mevaram Jatav is fighting turncoat Ranveer Singh Jatav. Jatav had to campaign with once rival Lal Singh Arya. In Mehgaon, Congress’ Hemant Katare is leading with 1,210 votes against Minister for Urban Development and Housing OPS Bhadoria. Karate who hails from Ater in Bhind was considered an outsider in Mehgaon. The BJP, meanwhile, leads in three seats: Bamori, Ashoknagar and Mugawli. BSP is leading in Morena constituency of Morena district with 2,178 votes. It also leads in Bamori with 726 votes; Ashoknagar with 861 votes; and Mungawli with 5381 votes.