Meet the biggest winner of MP elections, and the smallest

Considered close to BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who was himself dropped into the Assembly poll ring after a long time and won, Ramesh Mendola defeated his Congress rival in Indore-2 seat by 1.07 lakh votes.

This victory margin was the biggest across all the five states that voted in this round. The second- and third-highest victory margins also belonged to MP and to the BJP – respectively, Krishna Gaur from Govindpura (1.06 lakh votes) and incumbent Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni (1.04 lakh votes).

Indore-2 is seen as a bastion of Vijayvargiya, who won this seat thrice from 1993 to 2003. After he was moved to Dr Ambedkar Nagar-Mhow, the Indore-2 ticket went to Mendola.

He has been contesting from Mendola since 2008, and winning with big margins. In 2018, he won by 53,909 votes and in 2013 by 91,017 votes.

Mendola has served as the president of the Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association, as a corporator in Indore Municipal Corporation multiple times, and as Indore city president of the BJP.

In 2010, Mendola found himself in a controversy after he was accused by the Congress of being involved in a land scam case. But he was discharged by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which said “there is no iota of evidence to prove that he has obtained any kind of personal benefit”.

As the BJP CM race heats up in the state, Mendola is firmly behind Vijayvargiya for the post. Speaking to reporters following his win, Mendola said, “The public wants Kailashji to become the CM.”

Chouske, the Congress candidate who lost to Mendola, is the Leader of Opposition in the Municipal Corporation of Indore and fought this election on local issues such as drug abuse and rising criminal cases. But despite his known connect with the public, whom he addressed as family members during the campaign, Chouske lost – and lost big.

Arun Bhimawad, 54

The hot-headed BJP leader who is known to often get into rows bagged the Shajapur seat defeating Congress candidate Karada Hukumsingh by just 28 votes.

Following the slim win, Congress and BJP workers clashed in Shajapur and the police had to use lathicharge and tear gas to dispel the supporters of the two parties.

Keeping to character, Bhimawad issued a warning over this, saying: “Listen, Congress leaders, my party workers and Kamal (the BJP symbol) were assaulted… I will punish them in such a way, the law will punish them in such a way, that they will never forget it.”

In 2018, Bhimawad had been reprimanded by state leaders for getting into a physical confrontation with a local youth leader. He was also in controversy this year after he took potshots at Union minister and fellow BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia.

In 2013, the BJP first fielded Bhimawad from Shajapur seat, after he had led the district unit of the party. At that time too, he faced Hukumsingh (a 2008 winner from Shajapur), and defeated him by a slim margin, of 1,938 votes.

In 2018 though, Hukumsingh regained the seat, defeating Bhimawad by a huge margin of 44,979 votes. It was largely seen as the fallout of the presence of a senior BJP leader as a rebel in the race.

The narrow win will hurt Hukumsingh, who represented Shajapur continuously between 1993 and 2013, when he was defeated by Bhimawad. After he won in 2018, he served as a minister in the short-lived Congress government.