The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh, which needs to win eight seats to remain in power, was leading in 19 of the 28 constituencies where bypolls were held on November 3, according to early trends available on the Election Commission (EC) website.
The Congress, which won 27 of these seats in the 2018 assembly elections, was leading on eight seats and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on one. Congress was doing better in the Chambal region.
Most of the 12 ministers in chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Cabinet contesting the bypolls were leading. The three ministers trailing include Aidal Singh Kansana, Girraj Dandotia, and OPS Bhadauria, in the Chambal region.
Two ex-ministers, Govind Singh Rajput and Tulsi Silavat, were also leading.
The ministers leading in the early rounds of counting of votes include Mahendra Singh Sisodia, Pradyumn Singh Tomar, Imrati Devi, Prabhuram Chaudhary, Bisahu Lal Singh, Rajvardhan Singh, Hardeep Singh Dang, Suresh Dhakad, and Brijendra Yadav.
The trends indicated a comfortable victory for the BJP. The party’s workers have started celebrating at the state BJP headquarters in Bhopal and in the constituencies where party candidates are in comfortable positions. Sweets were distributed at the state BJP office.
As per the trends so far, Bisahu Lal Singh was leading by more than 11,000 votes against his nearest rival Congress’ Vishwanath in Anuppur constituency. In Sanchi, health minister Prabhuram Chaudhary was leading by more than 25,000 votes. Industrial and investment promotion minister Rajvardhan Singh was ahead of his Congress rival by more than 21,000 votes.
Panchayat and rural development minister Mahendra Singh Sisodia was leading by more than 17,000 votes against his nearest rival. Woman and child development minister Imrati Devi was ahead of her nearest rival by about 2,000 votes.
Chouhan said, “People of Madhya Pradesh have again given their mandate to the BJP which is determined for public welfare, as is evident as per the counting of votes so far.”
State Congress president Kamal Nath said, “These are early trends. The situation will be clear within an hour or so.”
