The ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday registered an emphatic win in the bypolls by securing victory in three of the four seats. The results brought much-needed relief to the BJP, which was desperately wanting to assuage the disappointing loss in the Damoh assembly bypoll held earlier this year.
The BJP secured victories in Khandwa Lok Sabha seat, and in the assembly seats of Jobat and Prithvipur, while the Congress secured win in Satna district’s Raigaon.
The results also proved that the state, which sells the costliest petrol–diesel in the country, had no impact of the spiralling fuel prices on the public even though Congress raised this issue during their campaigning.
At the Khandwa LS seat, BJP’s Gyaneshwar Patil defeated Congress Rajnarayan Singh in a one-sided contest, with over 80,000 votes. The result was, however, expected as Khandwa had been a saffron bastion for years, while the Congress suffered a rift over ticket distribution for the seat.
Former Union minister Arun Yadav had denied contesting the poll, but he remained an integral part of the campaigning throughout.
In Prithvipur, Congress’ Nitendra Singh Rathore went down to BJP’s Shishupal Yadav who had contested the seat on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 2018. The contest was neck-and-neck after the counting began, with both parties accusing each other of tampering with the poll process. Yadav won by a margin of 15,886 votes. It seems Rathore, who lost his MLA father Brijendra Singh Rathore, failed to garner the sympathy votes.
At Jobat, Congress turncoat Sulochana Rawat who had joined the BJP, turned the tables and won on the BJP ticket by a margin of 6,080 votes, defeating Mahesh Patel of the Congress. Rawat had left the Congress sensing she wouldn’t be offered a ticket.
The Congress could only win from Raigain where its candidate Kalpana Verma won by a margin of over 12,000 votes.
The BJP lost this seat due to factionalism. Late MLA Jugal Kishore Bahgri’s son Pushpraj and his sister-in-law had filed nomination only to withdraw it later after being denied tickets. Sources claimed that BJP ‘rebels’ never really worked in favour of the official candidate, Pratima Bagri. Raigaon had been a BJP BJP since around 35 years.
While the Congress managed to breach BJP stronghold, Raigaon, it couldn’t manage to keep its own bastions, Jobat and Prithvipur, safe.
BJP victory in Cong bastions heartening: CM Chouhan
BJP state president head VD Sharma and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached the party headquarters around noon and celebrated the bypoll victory with sweets and crackers.
Meanwhile, accepting the defeat, former CM Kamal Nath tweeted: “We accept the mandate with respect and will ponder over them.” He also alleged that the BJP won by power of money, muscle and misuse of government machinery. “We will continue to fight for the rights of the public,” added Nath.
Calling the results encouraging, CM Chouhan said that the BJP victory in the Congress bastions of Jobat and Prithvipur are heartening and historical. “I am happy we managed to win the faith of tribal brothers-sisters in Jobat,” he added.
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