Bhopal: The counting of votes for Mungaoli and Kolaras Assembly seats is underway. Congress' Mahendra Singh Yadav is ahead of BJP's Devendra Jain by 832 votes in Kolaras and Congress' Brijendra Singh Yadav is leading BJP's Bai Sahib by 31 votes in Mungaoli.
Although inconsequential in terms of the strength in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, the results of the by-election are expected to alter political equations within both Congress and the BJP.
The results are the last opportunity for a show of strength for the two parties before they lock horns later this year for the Assembly election. While the BJP has not given any signs as to what it expects from the by-elections, Congress is already gearing up for celebrations.
The IT Cell of the party had issued an invitation to media on Tuesday itself for the “victory” celebrations at the Pradesh Congress Committee office at 11 am on Wednesday.
Riding on mass support base of MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Congress is hoping for wins in both seats while the ruling BJP is hoping that three-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has enough left in the tank to pull through in the by-elections.
If insiders in both parties are to be believed, the Congress has emerged as the clear favourite for both seats. “The BJP failed to rein in its internal discontent which could make it pay heavily in the results,” a political analyst said.
The analyst said that a big loss for the BJP could set off alarm bells in the party, especially after it lost three by-elections in Rajasthan recently. He said that the desperation exhibited by the Shivraj government during the campaign was another evidence of the political undercurrents in the region.
If Scindia does help his party win at both the seats, it could give him a perfect platform to lead the Congress charge in Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress has been itching to dethrone the BJP since 2003.
On February 24, Mungaoli and Kolaras recorded a voters' turnover of 77.05 and 70.4 percent respectively. The voting percentage, however, did not give any hint as to where the pendulum would swing.
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