Bhopal: The BJP’s strategy of fielding seven MPs, including three Union ministers, in a bid to retain power in Madhya Pradesh seemed to have paid off.
As of 6 pm, five of the seven — Riti Pathak from Sidhi, Rakesh Singh from Jabalpur-West, Narendra Singh Tomar (Union minister) from Dimani, Uday Pratap Singh from Gadarwara, and Prahlad Patel (Union minister) from Narsinghpur — had either won or were cruising towards victory.
Among the remaining two, Ganesh Singh was trailing in Satna by over 2,400 votes (Congress in the lead) as of 6 pm, while Minister of State for Rural Development and Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste, in the fray from Niwas, had lost by over 9,700 votes to the Congress’ Chainsingh Warkade.
BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who was fielded from Indore-1 and had publicly expressed his reluctance to contest, had a lead of nearly 58,000 votes over his closest rival.
The MPs and Union ministers were named as candidates in the BJP’s second list for the assembly elections, as was Vijayvargiya. Barring Prahlad Patel, all the others were fielded in seats that the BJP lost in 2018, when the Congress emerged as the single-biggest player before a rebellion allowed the BJP to form the government.
How they fared
Many of these leaders faced challenges during the campaign.
Days ahead of counting in Dimani, videos posted online purportedly showed Narendra Singh Tomar’s son Devendra Pratap Singh Tomar discussing deals worth hundreds of crores. In one of the videos, a Canadian resident identified as Jagmandeep Singh is purportedly heard saying that he was the person Devendra was speaking to.
The BJP had dismissed the videos as fake.
Tomar — who was also facing some farmer resentment — won Dimani by over 24,000 votes after 19 rounds of counting.
Similarly, Riti Pathak faced a challenge from BJP rebel Kedarnath Shukla, who contested as an Independent after being denied a ticket.
As of 6pm, Riti Pathak was leading in Sidhi by a margin of nearly 20,000 votes.
Jabalpur MP Rakesh Singh, meanwhile, defeated former state finance minister Tarun Bhanot of the Congress in Jabalpur-Wast by over 30,000 votes.
In Narsingpur, Prahlad Patel defeated Lakhan Singh Patel of the Congress by over 31,000 votes. Prahlad Patel was contesting for the first time from Narsingpur, which was vacated for him by his brother Jalam Singh Patel. In 2018, Jalam had won the seat by over 37,000 votes.
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