BJP bags 9, Congress 5 Mayoral seats in Madhya Pradesh

This is the beginning of the change, says Kamal Nath

Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president Kamal Nath addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Bhopal on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: A.M. FARUQUI

 

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress won Mayoral seats each and an Independent candidate bagged one. The election in these cities was held on July 13 in the second phase of civic polls, and the results were announced on Wednesday. 

With this, the BJP has won nine and Congress five Mayoral seats in the 16 municipal corporations that went to polls in two phases this month. The remaining two were bagged by debutant Aam Aadmi Party while independent candidate Priti Sanjeev Suri, a BJP rebel, won the Katni seat whose result was declared on Wednesday. 

Even as the counting was on till evening, the BJP – that ruled all the 16 corporations which went to polls – declared the results of the civic elections as “the verdict of the whole State”. The Congress questioned the claim highlighting the gains it had made and called it “the beginning of change” in Madhya Pradesh. 

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that results and trends showed 90% of the winning candidates (in all the urban municipal bodies that include municipal corporations and municipal councils) were from the BJP. 

“The BJP has received huge support from the people. These municipal bodies are spread across the State and not concentrated in one place and the verdict has come our way in a decisive manner. This is the verdict of the whole State. People trust Prime Minister Narendra Modi and this win reflects the trust on the welfare schemes of the Centre as well as the work done by the State government,” he said. 

State Congress unit president and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath said this was the best performance of the Congress since 1999, whenever the Mayor’s election were held through direct voting.

“I express my gratitude to the people of the State and all party workers for the better performance of the Congress. Today the results of all the 16 municipal corporations of Madhya Pradesh have been declared. The Congress has won in Jabalpur, Gwalior, Morena, Rewa and Chhindwara. In Burhanpur and Ujjain, the people had given victory to the Congress, but due to the politics of conspiracy and misuse of administration, these seats could not come to us,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won three corporator seats in Khargone that witnessed riots earlier this year. The party, contesting civic elections for the first time in Madhya Pradesh – will now have three corporators in the Khargone Municipal Council, taking their overall tally to seven. Earlier, it had won four seats -- two in Jabalpur and one each in Burhanpur and Khandwa that had gone to polls in the first phase. 

Elections to the urban civic body elections for 413 municipalities -- 16 municipal corporations, 99 municipal councils and 298 nagar parishads -- were held in two phases on July 6 and July 13. The results of the first phase were declared on Sunday.