Modi-Shivraj magic swamps Cong in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal: The Bharatiya Janata Party which coined the electoral mantra of ‘Om NaMo Shivaya’ to ride the charisma of its star campaigners, Narendra Modi and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has swamped the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP just failed to accomplish a clean sweep, ending up with 27 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats to record it best tally. The Congress which had 12 seats in the outgoing House was down ten, just managing to hang on to Chhindwara and Guna. [caption id=“attachment_1530743” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Narendra Modi (R) and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. AFP[/caption] In the outgoing House the BJP held 16 seats and the BSP one. The BJP sustained the tempo after winning a record third term in November assembly elections with a handsome tally of 165 out of the 230 seats with a vote share of 44.87 per cent. The Congress mustered just 58 with a share of 36.04 per cent. The BJP improved its vote share by nearly ten per cent to 54 in the Lok Sabha while Congress slumped to 34.9 per cent. BJP’s previous best show was in 2004 when it won 25 out of 29 seats. Of the 11 seats it gained this time the BJP wrested eight from the Congress in Nimar-Malwa belt and two in Mahakoshal. It also pocketed the Rewa seat in the Vindhya region which had gone to the BSP in 2009. BJP’s Janardan Mishra defeated Sunderlal Tiwari (Congress) by over 1.7 lakh votes. Former Union minister Dalpat Singh Paraste wrested the Shahdol seat for the BJP by defeating Rajesh Nandini Singh by over 2.4 lakh votes. In Mandla, BJP’s Faggan Singh Kulaste defeated Omkar Singh Markam by over one lakh votes. Basori Singh of the Congress held the seat. Chhindwara returned Union minister Kamal Nath for a record ninth time in 34 years. Nath, who lost the seat only once, recorded a win this time by 116537 votes. Another Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia retained Guna. Scindia won by over 120000 votes. In the 1977 Janata Party wave Congress had crashed to its worst defeat losing all but one of 40 seats in the undivided Madhya Pradesh. Gargishankar Mishra, the sole flag-bearer managed to save Chhindwara. BJP nominees Sumitra Mahajan and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s nephew and former state minister Anoop Mishra have won the Indore and Morena seats. Mahajan has set a record of winning eight successive elections. Mishra, who had lost the assembly election and was fielded from Morena, vindicated the party. The BJP state unit chief Narendra Singh Tomar, who vacated Morena to move over to Gwalior, just scraped through by over 20000 votes, defeating Ashok Singh of the Congress. The leader of the opposition Sushma Swaraj who was expected to face a stiffer resistance in Vidisha improved her margin to over 4.1 lakh votes. She defeated Laxman Singh, the younger brother of former chief minister Digvijay Singh. Laxman Singh returned to the Congress from the BJP just a couple of years ago. In 2009 Swaraj had a virtual walkover from the Congress and won by over 3.89 lakh votes. The Congress’ gains in 2009 were largely from the Nimar-Malwa belt. This time PCC president Arun Yadav and his predecessor Kantilal Bhuria lost the Khandwa and Jhabua-Ratlam seats. Yadav had moved over from Khargone to Khandwa. Bhuria was humbled by another former union minister Dilip Singh Bhuria by over one lakh votes. BJP’s debutant Prof. Chintamani Malviya humbled sitting Congress MP Prem Chand Guddu by over 3 lakh votes at Ujjain. Another controversial MP Sajjan Singh Verma lost to BJP’s Manohar Untwal by over 2.6 lakh votes. In Mandsaur, BJP’s Sudhir Gupta defeated Meenakshi Natrajan, a close confidante of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, by over 3 lakh votes. Jyoti Dhurve, the incumbent from Betul who was expected to face a tough contest from Ajay Shah of the Congress, won by over 3 lakh votes. The Congress had lured away Ajay, brother of BJP’s state minister Vijay Shah and fielded him in place of Rahul Chaudhary, a popular Korku tribal. It paid heavily for the last minute change. The BJP wrested Rajgarh, the stronghold of Digvijay Singh, where Narayan Singh Amlave lost to Rodmal Nagar by over 2.2 lakh votes. At Hoshangabad, the sitting MP Rao Uday Pratap Singh who had left the Congress in November to join the BJP, humbled his Congress rival Devendra Patel by over 3.89 lakh votes. In Dhar, the Congress had replaced the sitting MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi by Umang Singh. The BJP also fielded a new candidate Savitri Devi who won by over one lakh votes. The Aam Aadmi Party which fielded candidates on all seats drew a blank.