BJP wins MP rural body polls; CM cites ‘double engine’ govts  

BHOPAL:  The three-tier panchayat polls in Madhya Pradesh, conducted over nearly two months, came to an end with the polls to decide the chairpersons of 51 district panchayats held on Friday. The ruling BJP claimed victory in the district panchayat chairpersons polls, stating that candidates backed by the party won 41 of the 51 posts, while eight seats were bagged by Congress-backed candidates.

The BJP also claimed victory in 227 out of the 312 janpad panchayats while Congress supported candidates won 65 janpad Panchayats and the rest 20 went to others. In the village panchayat poll, the BJP claimed that candidates support by it bagged 20,613 gram panchayats, that is 90% the total 22,924.
Attributing the victory to BJP’s development agenda, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “There will be no dearth of funds in development works for the newly elected panchayats.”

Earlier in the day, high drama unfolded outside the Bhopal District Panchayat building. Coming to know that some newly elected panchayat members supported by Congress had shifted loyalty towards BJP, the Opposition party leaders led by former CM Digvijaya Singh gathered outside the building.

Suddenly, a Congress supported member, Ram Kunwar Gurjar, wife of the party’s district vice-president Navrang Gurjar, came with her husband, BJP MLA Rameshwar Sharma and cabinet minister Bhupendra Singh. 

While the Congress workers prevented them from going inside, Ram Kunwar, her husband and Sharma, managed to enter for voting in the district panchayat chairperson polls. The police stopped Congress leaders from going inside, which led to a scuffle and a picture of Digvijaya holding ACP Umesh Tiwari by the collar of his uniform went viral. Singh later led a Congress delegation to the state election commission to complain over the issue.

CM promises funds
Attributing the victory to BJP’s development agenda, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “There will be no dearth of funds in development works for the newly elected panchayats across the state.”