BJP Feigns Defeat by 4 seats in the mayoral elections in Madhya Pradesh, AAP and Congress come out as winners

BJP leaders have mentioned that the crucial loss in the mayoral seats could be a wake-up call for the party for the next year’s assembly elections. The party has pointed out the causes of defeat to be lack of management and infighting in handling the polls.

The Bharatiya Janta Party has claimed its victory in almost 105 out of a total of 133 local bodies in the Madhya Pradesh Municipal elections. But, the party has lost four integral mayoral posts in the state.

In opposition, Indian National Congress won three mayoral posts. In contrast, the Aam Aadmi Party won for the first time and was able to win one seat in the recent mayoral election. 

The elections were held on 6 July for the first phase of polling. The election was organized for the post of 11 municipal corporations, 36 municipal councils, and 86 town councils. The results were announced on Sunday.

The second phase of the polling will be conducted soon. The elections would be conducted for five municipal corporations, 40 municipal councils, and 169 town councils. The results of the second phase will be announced on 20 July. 

In the first phase, BJP showcased an extraordinary victory. The party won seven mayoral posts but lost four posts to the opposing parties. The mayoral posts were for Gwalior, Jabalpur, Chhindwara, and Singrauli. In the previous elections conducted in 2015, BJP won over the posts. 

The loss of four mayoral posts was quite a loss for Bharatiya Janta Party. The party faced major complications in Gwalior- a stronghold of the Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narendra Sing Tomar. The leaders had to give up the mayoral posts after the span of 57 years of ruling. 

The mayoral posts for Chhindwara, Gwalior, and Jabalpur were won by the Indian National Congress while the Aam Aadmi Party’s win in the first mayoral election participated by them came out to be a win for them. The party won the mayoral seat in Singrauli. In 2015, Bharatiya Janta Party won all 16 seats in the municipal corporation. 

However, in the recent elections, the ruling party won most of the corporators’ posts in the local body election.

Madhya Pradesh BJP general secretary Bhagwan das Sabnani has opened up about the situation, saying that the party has won most of the councillor posts. However, they have experienced the loss of three mayoral seats to Congress. Congress’ victory over the three mayoral posts boosted the confidence of Kamal Nath. But, the leader has expressed his grief that they have lost the most crucial posts in Gwalior and Jabalpur.

Sources state that the BJP Government has blamed the defeat in Gwalior, and Tomar allegedly pushed for their own preferred candidates during the selection process.

Meanwhile, in the Mayoral election, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen registered its first victory. The party won seats by gaining control of the corporation’s post in Khandwa city by defeating the Congress party’s representative, Noorjahan Begum. The party won the election by a margin of 285 votes. 

The AIMIM fielded candidates have campaigned ahead of the polls in order to win the elections in Khandwa. 

AIMIM gained a total of 10,000 votes in Burhanpur. This has proved to be an advantage for BJP as the votes were split in half even though the ruling party won by a slight margin of 534 votes. The AIMIM received a positive response from the Jabalpur ward as well.

Wake Up Call For Our Party: BJP claimed

In the municipal cooperation elections, BJP won seats in Bhopal, Indore, Khandwa, Burhanpur, Ujjain, Sagar, and Satna. Congress has claimed its victory after a span of 18 years in Chhindwara, while the mayoral candidate in Gwalior Shobha Sikarwar won by a count of over 24000 votes.

A senior BJP leader opened up about the party’s loss in the mayoral ward and that the main reason for the defeat of the party was infighting and lack of management in poll handling by the party. He has even expressed his grief, saying they have lost the municipal corporation elections of Gwalior and Jabalpur. The party nearly won the Ujjain and Burhanpur elections by a thin margin of 700 and 300 votes, respectively. 

The loss should be taken seriously by the party as a wake-up call. The loss in the election does not point out to the individuals. Instead, it blames the organizational handling of polls. The situation must carefully be addressed and taken care of by the central political leaders before the assembly polls. 

The assembly elections in the state will be conducted the next year in November.

Another party leader opened by affirming that Congress lost most of the seats in the election during the previous year. BJP gained a victory in 2021’s by-poll elections because of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s popularity. But, BJP’s loss in the Madhya Pradesh elections indicates that the party is losing two important Municipal Corporations. It seems that Congress has not yet weakened in Madhya Pradesh.

On further questioning, the leader added that the party’s margin had decreased in the election. Previously, BJP feigned victory by a count of about 3 lakh votes. However, the party has witnessed a decline in votes in 2021’s municipal elections. Another major concern for the party seems to be the victory of AAM in the elections. The party won seats in Singrauli but even gained a significant amount of votes in many regions. 

This has been concerning because BJP is currently ruling the government. It could be a serious issue for the party in the state of Madhya Pradesh, especially in the situation when the party leaders are rooting for Shivraj’s replacement. 

However, no perfect interpretations can not be drawn out as the second phase polling results will be declared soon.

Aam Aadmi party’s win came out to be a surprise in Singrauli. AAP mayoral candidate Rani Agarwal won by a count of about 9000 votes defeating the representatives of Congress (Arvind Chandel)  and BJP’s representative, Chandra Prakash Vishwakarma.

Rani Agarwal previously stood up in the elections of 2018. However, she was not able to secure the position. This year, she has secured a sum of 32,500 votes that brought her to the throne of running in the Singrauli constituency. 

BJP leaders have criticized the win as they believed that the ticket selection was a complication in Singrauli. Brahmins were against the party’s decision to represent Vishvakarma for the mayoral post. The same opinion was shared by the Sahu community, whose population is significant in the region.

Edited by Prakriti Arora