Counting of votes for Madhya Pradesh’s 28 Assembly seats where bypolls were held on November 3, began at 8 am on Tuesday. Polling was held along with phase II of the Bihar Assembly election.  

The seats had fallen vacant either due to the demise of the sitting MLA or mass-resignations. 

Jyotiraditya Scindia switches side

Out of the 28 seats, 22 fell vacant after sitting MLAs of the erstwhile Congress government switched over to the BJP in March, this year. This led to the fall of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government.

Subsequently, three other Congress MLAs followed suit and switched over to the BJP.

Polling in three other seats was necessitated due to the death of the sitting MLAs.

How many seats do Congress, BJP need to win?

In the 2018 Assembly election, Congress won 114 seats in the 230-member house. It was two seats short of majority but came to power with the support of four independents, two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs and one Samajwadi Party MLA.

But after 25 of its MLAs resigned, Congress’ strength in the house reduced to 88. It now needs all the 28 seats.

The BJP currently has 107 MLAs and needs to win nine seats for the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government to remain in power.

Also read: Madhya Prades bypolls: 66.28% turnout till 6 pm; one hurt in violence

The crucial Gwalior-Chambal belt

16 of the 28 constituencies, which voted on November 3, are from the Gwalior-Chambal belt, which is a stronghold of the former Congress and current BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia. The region is also the stronghold of Congress leader Digvijay Singh. Both the leaders are members of erstwhile royal families of the region.

If BJP manages to win a significant number of seats in the region, it is set to boost Scindia’s political stature, after his crushing defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha election from the Guna parliamentary constituency.

However, if the opposite happens and Congress manages to win big in the region, it might put him in a difficult position in his current party.