BJP wave in MP, captures Congress bastion Chhindwara

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday scored a sweeping win in Madhya Pradesh by clinching all 29 Lok Sabha seats, including Congress bastion Chhindwara, with Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Faggan Singh Kulaste, and Virendra Kumar emerging victorious.

With all 29 under its belt, the BJP became the first political party to achieve such a feat after 40 years in Madhya Pradesh.

In the undivided MP, the Congress had won all 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in 1984.

Notably, the victory margin of the BJP ranged between 1 lakh to 5 lakh votes in 26 constituencies, while it stood under 1 lakh in Bhind, Gwalior, and Morena constituencies.

The most spectacular victory was registered by BJP's sitting MP from Indore, Shankar Lalwani, who bagged the seat by the potentially highest-ever margin of 11,75,092 votes, followed by Vidisha from where former CM and BJP stalwart Shivraj Singh Chouhan won by staggering 8.21 lakh votes.

The four other consistencies in which the BJP secured a margin of over 5 lakh votes are Khajuraho (5.41 lakh), Guna (5.40 lakh), Bhopal (5.01 lakh) and Mandsaur (5 lakh).

The BJP managed to breach the long-standing Congress citadel Chhindwara, which it failed to capture in the 2019 elections when it had won 28 seats.

This is the second time since 1952 that the BJP has won the Chhindwara seat, with BJP's Bunty Vivek Sahu defeating sitting MP Nakul Nath by a margin of 1,13,618 votes on Tuesday.

The saffron party had managed to win Chhindwara constituency for the first time 26 years ago when former chief minister and senior BJP leader Sunderlal Patwa defeated Kamal Nath in 1997 by-elections.

Even after the imposition of the Emergency and subsequent Janata Party wave, the Congress managed to hold Chhindwara in 1977.

Sahu polled 6, 44,738 votes and Nath, son of Congress Kamal Nath, bagged 5, 31,120.

The Indore contest stood out as NOTA created a record with 2.18 lakh voters opting for the 'none of the above' option.

The Indore seat had hit headlines after Congress' nominee Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew from the poll fray at the last moment, a move that forced the party out of the prestigious contest. Bam later joined the BJP.

Stung by Bam's move, the Congress appealed to voters to go for NOTA.

Among prominent candidates, Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Faggan Singh Kulaste, and Virendra Kumar emerged victorious from Guna, Mandla and Tikamgarh constituencies, respectively.

In Vidisha, former MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan emerged victorious by a margin of 8.21 lakh over his Congress rival Pratapbhanu Sharma.

In another setback to Congress, party veteran Digvijaya Singh lost by 1.46 lakh votes from Rajgarh constituency to his nearest BJP rival Rodmal Nagar.

Madhya Pradesh BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma won the Khajuraho seat by a margin of 5,41,229 votes.

While the Congress has not fielded its candidate from Khajuraho as part of an INDIA alliance understanding, the Samajwadi Party's Meera Yadav's nomination was rejected on the grounds of technicality by the returning officer.

Sharma bagged 7, 72,774 votes against the Bahujan Samaj Party's candidate, Kamlesh Kumar, who polled 2, 31,545 votes.

Scindia won Guna seat with a margin of 5, 40,929 votes, defeating Congress's Yadvendra Rao Deshraj Singh by polling 9, 23,302 votes.

Currently a BJP member of the Rajya Sabha, Scindia had won from Guna as a Congress nominee in 2002, 2004, 2009 and 2014. He lost to the BJP's K P Yadav in 2019 and later joined the BJP in March 2020 after falling out with the state Congress leadership.

Union minister Kulaste defeated Congress's Omkar Singh Markam by a margin of 1, 03,846 votes from the Mandla (ST) seat. Kulaste polled 7, 51,375 votes, while Markam bagged 6, 47,529 votes.

In Tikamgarhs (SC) seat, Union minister Virendra Kumar won the fourth term in a row. He defeated his Congress challenger Pankaj Ahirwar by a margin of 4, 03,312 votes.

In Ratlam (ST) seat, BJP's Anita Nagar Singh Chauhan defeated Congress leader and former Union minister Kantilal Bhuria by 2, 07,232 votes, becoming the first woman to win this seat.

Anita, wife of Madhya Pradesh forest minister Nagar Singh Chauhan, received 7,95,863 votes while Bhuria, who had won from Ratlam five times in the past, got 5,88,631 votes.

The BJP played its cards well from the beginning and concentrated on Chhindwara seat.

In the run-up to the four-phase Lok Sabha polls in MP between April 19 and May 13, PM Modi addressed eight rallies and led two road shows.

Speaking in Jhabua, he appealed to voters to give BJP the mandate of 370 seats in the country.

Covertly, BJP strategists poached several Congress workers and local leaders from Chhindwara to weaken Kamal Nath.

Senior journalist Rasheed Kidwai said the election results in MP manifest the Congress's weak state leadership.

"The state leadership failed to demonstrate strategy and aggressiveness to counter the BJP," he added.

The BJP ensured that Kamal Nath remained tied to Chhindwara to campaign for his son Nakul.

Some political observers believe that the Nath father-son duo camping in Delhi amid the buzz of BJP crossover demoralised the Congress cadres.