In Madhya Pradesh bypolls, the results of which were declared on late Tuesday night, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has clinched 19 seats out of 28 that wents for by-elections on November 3. The Congress party has settled at nine seats. 

The 19-seat victory of BJP is enough for the ruling party to retain a comfortable majority in the state Assembly House and to provide stability to the eight-month-old government led by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as it needed only nine seats to retain majority. With this, the ruling BJP has now 126 MLAs in the 230-member Assembly House, while the Congress has 96 legislators. 

BJP got 49.46% vote share against the Congress’s 40.40% in these bypolls.

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Meanwhile, the effective strength of the MP Assembly is currently at 229 due to the resignation of one more Congress MLA recently. 

The big win for BJP has also cemented the position of senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who in March this year quit Congress and joined the saffron party leading to the collapse of Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh. 

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“I express my gratitude towards the voters for giving a clear mandate to the BJP. The results of the bypolls proved that both former chief ministers Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh were betrayers. It has become a habit of the Congress to question the credibility of the EVMs by not accepting the mandate,” Scindia said after the bypolls results were declared.

“We won the seats by huge margins and lost few by a thin margin. We humbly accept the victory,” CM Chouhan, elated over BJP’s performance, said.

Chouhan also accused the opposition Congress of making false allegations and using indecent words against the BJP leaders.

Congress leader Kamal Nath accepted the defeat and said that his party made efforts to reach out to the public.

Out of 22 MLAs, who quit Congress with Scindia, 15 of them emerged victorious, while seven others, including three ministers, lost.

Three of 12 BJP ministers, who contested bypolls, three lost their seats to their Congress rivals, including Imarti Devi, who lost from Dabra by a margin of 26,633 votes. 

BJP minister Girraj Dandotia lost from Dimani by a margin of 26,467 votes.

Another minister Adal Singh Kansana bit the dust from Sumaoli constituency by a margin of 10,947 votes.

Scindia loyalist Tulsi Silawat won from Sanver by a margin of 53,264 votes.

BJP minister OPS Bhadoria won from Mehgaon by a margin of 12,036 votes.

The saffron party’s Munna Lal Goyal lost by a margin of 8,555 votes against Congress Dr Satish Sikarwar from Gwalior-East.