In an impressive show the Congress won a majority of the seats in the Gwalior Chambal Division. The party raised its tally of 12 seats in the previous election to 27 while BJP was limited to 6 from its earlier tally of 20.
Significantly 4 BJP ministers out of the seven from the region too lost by huge margins. Anoop Mishra, the senior leader of the party and nephew of former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Bajpai also lost the election from the Bhitarwar constituency. In Gwalior, BJP could win in only 1 seat out of the 20 it contested.
This impressive show by the Congress is all the more significant as Modi and Amit Shah had held extensive rallies in the region to solicit support for the party candidates. Addressing a huge gathering in Gwalior on November 16 Modi had claimed that the Congress has been vaporized in air and that the BJP would win all the seats from the region. At that time he had paraded all the 20 BJP candidates from Gwalior on the stage asking people to elect them with huge margins.
BJP President Amit Shah too had ridiculed Rahul Gandhi for claiming that the Congress would win in Madhya Pradesh. During a meeting in Gwalior on November 26 he had claimed that the Congress party lacks leadership and policies and cannot defeat a stable government.
The BJP leaders had been going all out as they believed that the election results in Madhya Pradesh is a high stake affair as the party has been in power for 15 years.
With this impressive win by Congress in the region the question is being raised in many quarters whether the Modi magic has come to an end and whether Modi has lost his charm.
Despite the persistent efforts of the BJP leaders to erode the Scindia influence in the region the results reflect the people’s faith in Jyodiraditya Scindia.
The most noteworthy win for the Congress from the region is the win in Morena district. Last time the party did not have a single seat from this district. This time the party has won in all the six seats.
In a dramatic turnaround around midnight the Congress candidate from Gwalior South Praveen Pathak piqued the BJP candidate and former minister Narayan Singh Kushwaha to win by 121 votes, the narrowest recorded victory margin in the state.
