The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the dominant party on counting day on Thursday, winning 17 seats by late evening and leading in 11. At the time, the Indian National Congress had won just one seat, out of a total of 29 parliamentary constituencies.
Madhya Pradesh went to the polls in four phases for its 29 Lok Sabha seats: six on April 29, seven on May 6, eight on May 12 and another 8 on May 19.
The State, which has 5.17 crore voters saw a turnout of 71.1 %, a substantial increase over the 61.57% voter turnout during the 2014 Parliamentary elections.
MP saw Assembly polls just last year, with the Congress coming to power in December after 15 years of BJP rule. The Congress won 114 of the State’s 230 seats, two short of the majority mark of 116. The Bahujan Samaj Party, with two MLAs, and Samajwadi Party, which has one, are supporting the Congress. There are four Independents. The BJP won 109 seats.
Political tensions rose last month after Lokendra Singh Rajput, a candidate of Mayawati’s BSP, quit and joined the Congress, saying he supports Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Here are the updates:
Congress struggling in face of BJP sweep
The BJP has swept all but one seat of Madhya Pradesh’s 29 constituencies. Exit polls had predicted a victory of 26-28 seats for the NDA in the State, which is seeing a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP. Just months after winning the Assembly elections by a narrow margin in the hindi heartland after 15 years, the Congress seems to be struggling, with a lead in just one constituency so far. The party had won 4 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Nakul Kamal Nath, son of Chief Minister Kamal Nath is the only non-BJP candidate who is leading over BJP’s Nathansaha Kawreti in the Chhindwara, although with a thin margin of 35,795 votes.
BJP candidate Pragya Thakur is also leading in Bhopal by 9,000 votes while facing a tough competition from Congress’ veteran leader Digvijay Singh.
In Guna, Jyotiraditya Scindia’s vote share of 41.4% against the BJP’s 51.2% hints at a setback too for Congress as it trails behind BJP’s K.P. Yadav.
The Congress appears to have failed to scrape up the numbers needed to repeat its impressive performance in the 2018 Assembly elections, where it emerged as the single-largest party despite the formidable challenge that was posed by the BJP.
Trends as of 10 a.m
The BJP seems to be turning the tide in Madhya Pradesh by gaining a lead in 28 out of 29 constituencies in the State. Exit polls had predicted a victory of 26-28 seats for the NDA. Just months after winning the Assembly elections in the hindi heartland, the Congress seems to be struggling, with a lead in just one constituency so far.
The BJP appeared to be in a place to better its 2014 tally in the state, when it won 27 seats and the Congress had won two constituencies. BJP candidate Pragya Singh Thakur was leading with a margin of 45,467 votes over the Congress' Digvijay Singh.
Congress candidate Nakul Kamal Nath, son of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, was the only non-BJP candidate leading in Madhya Pradesh, leading with a margin of 25,876 votes. Among the two successful Congress candidates in the state in 2014, Guna candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia was trailing the BJP's K.P. Yadav, a former aide of his, by 27,930 votes.
