BJP set to script landslide victory in Madhya Pradesh, defeats anti incumbency; early trends indicate huge margin between BJP and Congress

Despite all the talks of anti-incumbency, BJP has scripted a landslide victory in Madhya Pradesh with early trends till 1 pm keeping the BJP more than double, ahead of Congress. Till 1pm on Sunday, BJP was leading in 163 out of 230 assembly constituencies and Congress struggling with leads in only 65 seats. The exit polls that had kept BJP ahead of Congress, however had never predicted the number as high for BJP.

“This is the victory of the people. People have always been with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is the result of double-engine government. People have trusted Modi’s guarantee. We were confident of the victory because our schemes under guidance of the PM have been benefiting the people and thus people have blessed us. There was no anti incumbency”, said the sitting Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan as BJP workers erupted in joy and celebrations in Madhya Pradesh. He however didn’t comment on who would be the next chief minister, amidst long standing speculations if BJP central leadership will back Chauhan, who has been the CM for 4 terms or if there will be a change of guard.

The Gwalior-Chambal region, a strong hold of union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has been a huge dampener for the grand old Congress party. BJP had backed Scindia and ensured tickets to at least 20 of the 22 MLAs including 10 ministers who had switched over to BJP in 2020 that eventually led to the toppling of Congress Kamal Nath government after 15 months of it’s formation in 2018. Congress had in 2018 won 28 seats in the Gwalior-Chambal region. But at 1pm on Sunday, as the counting for 2023 assembly election continued, Congress was trailing in most of those 28 seats.

“Those who had insulted me, called me names and also mocked my height, they have been responded to by the people of Madhya Pradesh. People have shown congress who stands where and whose height today is what. I am a BJP loyalist and will remain with BJP. People have trusted the vision of PM Narendra Modi. In 2020 I had taken this challenge for 2023 and the results are here” said Jyotiraditya Scindia in an interview to NDTV. But he too availed the question as who would be the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

BJP leaders call it a surgical strike and launched a massive push in their campaigning in the last few weeks leading to the November 17 single phase polling. While Narendra Modi fronted the campaigning, Union Home Minister Amit Shah took charge of ground level election management. The social security schemes including ‘ladli behna’ ensuring financial assistance to women across the state gave a goodwill to Shivraj Singh Chauhan government that overshadowed Kamal Nath, former CM of Madhya Pradesh whose outreach to Bageshwar Dham Pt Dhirendra Shastri was seen as an attempt to adopt hindutva doctrine for political benefits and in order to corner BJP.