DURING THE run-up to the elections, as protests broke out within the BJP over the announcement of candidates for the Madhya Pradesh elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah came down to hold a string of meetings to firefight the situation.
Party insiders say Shah directly spoke to dissident leaders and convinced them not to contest as rebels. Sources said he also advised party leaders to keep a close watch on non-Congress candidates in the fray from seats perceived to be weak for the BJP.
In the final calculation, as the BJP won 164 and the Congress 66 constituencies, 27 went to a “third party”, like the BSP, Samajwadi Party, Independents and the Gondwana Ganatantra Party (GGP).
BSP dents Congress in two regions
The Mayawati-led BSP proved to be the Congress’s nemesis in the Gwalior-Chambal and Bundelkhand regions, where the grand old party won 14 seats. The BSP was a key factor in 7 seats which the Congress lost in the region.
In Bhind, former BJP MLA Sanjeev Singh switched to the BSP after being denied a ticket over his alleged involvement in the patwari (revenue officer) scam as 7 of the 10 toppers of the recruitment exam emerged from a test centre owned by him. Singh, who was associated with the Congress before shifting to the BJP, garnered 34,938 votes and came in third behind the BJP’s Narendra Singh Kushwah and the Congress’s Chaudhary Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi, who lost by a margin of 14,146 votes.
In Lahar, former Leader of the Opposition and 7-time MLA Govind Singh of the Congress lost to the BJP’s Ambrish Sharma by 12,397 votes while BSP candidate Rasal Singh came in third with 31,348 votes.
Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who faced an uphill task early in the campaign in Dimani, managed to edge out his nearest rival, Balveer Singh Dantodiya of the BSP, by 24,461 votes while Congress candidate Ravindra Singh Tomar was relegated to third position with 24,006 votes.
Similarly, a BJP candidate in Sumawali, Aidal Singh Kansana, defeated the Congress’s Ajab Singh Kansana, who came in third with 55,289 votes while BSP nominee Kuldeep Singh Sikarwar stood second with 56,500 votes.
In Sewda, state Congress OBC cell president Damodar Singh quit after being denied a ticket and joined the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram). He secured 29,042 votes and may have dented the prospects of his former party’s candidate Ghanshyam Singh, who lost to the BJP’s Pradeep Agrawal by a margin of 2,558 votes.
In Mungaoli and Sabalgadh, Congress nominees lost by thin margins of 5,422 and 9,805 votes to the BJP, with BSP candidates getting 15,340 and 51,153 votes respectively.
Bundelkhand remains BJP stronghold
In the BJP stronghold of Bundelkhand, where caste politics took centrestage, the Congress lost in 7 seats where the third parties took away a lot of votes.
In Chhatarpur, the BJP’s Lalita Yadav dethroned sitting MLA Alok Chaturvedi by 6,9,68 votes as BSP candidate Deelmani Singh managed to secure 14,184 votes. Chaturvedi was credited for kickstarting the career of controversial Bageshwar Dham chief preist Dhirender Shastri.
In Chandla, the Congress’s Anuragi Harprasad lost to the BJP’s Ahiwar Dileep by 15,491 votes. Here, the party spoiler may have been the Samajwadi Party (SP), whose candidate Ahirwar Pushpendra Kumar got 24,977 votes.
In Gunnaor, the BJP’s Rajesh Kumar Verma beat the Congress’s Jeevan Lal Siddharth by a thin margin of 1,160. BSP nominee Devideen got just less than 6,000 votes.
The BJP trounced the Congress in Niwari by 54,186 votes as the SP candidate came in third with 32,670 votes. Similarly, the SP may have played spoilsport for the Congress in Jatara where its candidate got 15,034 votes resulting in a BJP win with a over 11,000-vote majority.
The BSP could have proved to be a boon for the BJP in Patharia and Rajnagar too, helping the saffron party beat the Congress nominees by 18,159 and 5,867 votes, as its candidates got 29,339 and 32,195 votes respectively.
BSP, a bane in Baghelkhand
The “other parties” helped the BJP in 7 seats in Bagelkhand region of the state.
Sidharth Tiwari, grandson of Congress stalwart Shriniwas Tiwari, won against his grandfather’s party candidate Rama Shankar Singh by 4,746 votes as BSP nominee Devendra Singh accumulated 24,393 votes. Sidharth had joined the BJP just ahead of the polls as the Congress denied him a ticket.
In Sirmour, the BJP candidate Divyaraj Singh defeated BSP candidate V D Pandey by a margin of 13,790 votes, pushing Congress candidate Ramgarib Vanvasi into third place.
The BSP may have spoiled the Congress’s chances in Deotalab and Nagod too. In Deotalab, BJP candidate Girish Gautam trounced the Congress’s Padmesh Gautam by a margin of 24,386 as the BSP’s candidate Amarnath Patel got 30,251 votes. In Nagod, the BJP’s Nagendra Singh triumphed over Congress’s Rashmi Singh, who came in third after the BSP nominee Yadvendra Singh got 53,343 votes.
In Chitrakoot, the BJP’s Surendra Singh Gaharwar secured a 6,670-vote victory over the Congress’s Neelanshu while the BSP’s Subhash Sharma came in third with 31,797 votes. Similarly, in Manpur, the Congress’s Tilak Raj Singh was defeated by the BJP’s Meena Singh as BSP candidate Radhe Shyam Kukodiya secured 28,839 votes.
In Dhauhani, the GGP proved to be the Congress’s nemesis, helping the BJP’s Kunwar Singh Tekam secure a 3,321-vote victory against Congress’s Kamlesh Singh. GGP candidate Laldev Singh Kusharam secured 11,724 votes.
Bellwether trouble
The Congress lost out on three seats in the bellwether Malwa Nimar region too.
In Shajapur, BJP candidate Arun Bhimawat defeated the Congress’s Karada Hukumsingh by 28 votes – the thinnest margin of victory in the state – as Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) candidate Kantilal secured 5,689 votes.
At Sailana, the sole seat which saw a non-BJP, non-Congress party win, the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) candidate, Kamleshwar Dodiyar, won by a margin of 4,618 votes as the Congress came in second.
In Alirajpur, the BJP’s Chouhan Nagar Singh won by a margin of 3,723 votes against the Congress’s Mukesh Patel after Independent candidate Surendra Thakrala and the BSP’s Patel Antar Singh collectively garnered 15,066 votes.
Others swing Mahakoshal in favour of BJP
The Congress’s outing in the swing region of Mahakoshal of the state was fairly bad as the party lost three seats where third parties proved strong.
Former Speaker N P Prajapati, in Gotegaon, lost to the BJP’s Mahendra Nagesh by a margin of 47,788 votes while Independent candidate and the Congress’s earlier nominee, Shekhar Coudhary, got over 36,000 votes. Choudhary was replaced by Prajapati and thus contested as an Independent.
In Shahpura, the BJP’s Omprakash Dhurwey won against the Congress’s Bhoopendra Maravi by a margin of 5,617 votes as the GGP’s Aman Singh Porte came in third with 40,860 votes.
In Bainsdehi, the BJP beat the Congress by a margin of 8,230 votes as Independent candidate Sandeep Dhurve secured 10,478 votes.
While 51 of the Congress’s sitting MLAs tasted defeat, 24 of the BJP’s lost. Among those who lost from the BJP were 12 sitting ministers, including Home Minister Narottam Mishra.
“The ministers lost due to anti-incumbency. Mishra lost as the Congress got a strong RSS leader (Avdhesh Nayak) to campaign against the 6-time MLA. Rebel candidates hurt us in at least 7-8 seats,” a BJP leader said.
Ramji Gautam at a BSP rally in Madhya Pradesh. (Twitter/ramjigautambsp) 
Share
