The Election Commission on Wednesday released the final tally of seats for the Madhya Pradesh asssembly elections after a marathon counting session that went on all night.
The Congress won 114 seats, with the BJP coming in a close second with 109, said Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer V.L. Kantha Rao.
The Bahujan Samaj Party won two seats and the Samajwadi Party one seat. Four seats went to independents.
The seat count was neck-and-neck between the Congress and BJP for most of Tuesday, wildly see-sawing this way and that. The ECI's figures at 1.33 am showed the Congress winning 107 seats and leading in 7, the BJP winning 101 seats and leading in further 8 seats, followed by the BSP leading in 2 and others in 5 seats.
State Congress chief Kamal Nath has already written to Governor Anandiben Patel, seeking time to stake claim to form the government as the “single largest party”. The Madhya Pradesh Congress also scheduled a meeting of its legislators for Wednesday afternoon, with A.K. Antony as central observer, despite the lack of clarity on results on Tuesday.