This has been for the first time in the history of Madhya Pradesh, when such a neck and neck fight was witnessed between Congress and the BJP till the eleventh hour.

The tally of seats of both the parties hovered around 109 to 123 till evening.

Till the filing of the report, the tally showed, Congress at 113 and the BJP was at 110. The situation was not clear till 11 pm.

Besides, this was a simple election, without having clear anti-incumbency or any under current.

The rise of around 3.5 voting per cent in comparison to previous elections, was clearly not against the government.

Political observers feel that the voting was against the faces- sitting MLAs and the ministers of the BJP government.

 Several tall figures of the BJP and Congress lost election this time.

From Congress, Leader of the Opposition Ajay Singh, Deputy Speaker Rajendra Singh and former PCC Chief Suresh Pachouri have been defeated.

This clearly indicates that there was no wave only against the government, but anti-incumbency was against the faces.

Eleven Cabinet Ministers including Archana Chitnis, Jayant Malaiya, Umashankar Gupta, Antar Singh Arya, Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya and Om Prakash Dhurve have been defeated.

The verdict suggests that besides 15-year anti-incumbency against the BJP government, the main reason behind BJP’s debacle was Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s statement, “Koi Mai Ka Lal Arakshan Khatam Nahin Kar Sakta.”

 (Nobody can abolish reservation).

Besides this statement of Chouhan, bringing an ordinance in the Parliament in support of SC-ST Atrocity Act, further fuelled the situation.