Bhopal: The Congress has wrestled away the Vijaypur seat in the Gwalior-Chambal region from six-time MLA Ramniwas Rawat in the Madhya Pradesh bypolls.
The Vijaypur bypolls were necessitated after Ramniwas Rawat, a long-time Congress leader who served as minister in Digvijay Singh’s government, defected to the BJP before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP subsequently elevated Rawat, a tall leader in the OBC community, to the minister of forests post in MP.
For the bypoll, the Congress put its faith in Mukesh Malhotra from Vijaypur’s Sehariya Adivasi community who, in the 2023 assembly election, came third by garnering 44,128 votes (21 percent) in the seat, contesting independently. Rawat won that election on a Congress ticket, with 69,646 votes.
Soon after vote counting began on Saturday, Ramniwas Rawat gained a lead, but after 12 rounds, his lead steadily shrunk. By the time counting reached the last round, Mukesh Malhotra had secured a lead of over 7,364 votes against Rawat. He won the seat with over one lakh votes.
Ramniwas Rawat’s loss is a blow to the Mohan Yadav-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh amid several reports of tribals being restricted from voting. On 12 November, a night before voting, tribal villagers were attacked, with the Congress alleging that it was Rawat’s men who injured half a dozen Sehariyas. Congress party president Jitu Patwari alleged that in Vijaypur, the district magistrate (DM) and superintendent of police (SP) had been working for the BJP more than party workers. However, the Election Commission of India turned down the Congress’s complaint against booth capturing. The party’s demand to transfer the DM and SP went unheard.
From the Congress’s end, Patwari and Vijaypur in charge Jaivardhan Singh campaigned extensively to turn the tide against Rawat.
From the BJP’s end, ex-Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, state party president V.D. Sharma, and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav campaigned for Rawat.
However, Union minister Jyotiradiya Scindia, who hails from the Gwalior-Chambal region, maintained his distance from Rawat’s campaign.
Scindia reportedly opposed Rawat’s induction into the BJP as Rawat, in 2020, refused to leave the Congress when Scindia and his loyalists defected to the BJP, leading to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in MP.
What further complicated the situation for Rawat was his ongoing rivalry with Congress’s Neetu Sikarwar since the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. One of the reasons for Rawat’s defection to the BJP then was Congress going against his wish to give a ticket to Neetu Sikarwar from Morena.
Having joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election, Rawat, who holds substantial sway in the Gwalior-Chambal region, extensively campaigned against Neetu Sikarwar, leading to his defeat. After Rawat joined the BJP, necessitating the bypolls in Vijaypur, Neetu Sikarwar joined forces to defeat Rawat.
On the other hand, Mukesh Malhotra was a BJP worker and was also made the chairman of the Sehariya Development Board and given state minister status by the BJP. However, months after the saffron party did not give him a ticket in the 2023 assembly election, Malhotra joined the Congress in the presence of Priyanka Gandhi ahead of the Lok Sabha election, soon after Rawat defected to the BJP.
On Malhotra’s victory, Congress state president Jitu Patwari told the media, “Rawat ji, who got votes on the symbol of Congress for the past 40 years, decided to switch to the BJP. Even the BJP workers did not like this. Someone who could not be with the Congress party after he was with the party for all these years, how would he be loyal to the BJP? This election was not of BJP-Congress but humanity and terrorism. On the 13th, votes were cast, and on the 23rd, Rawat ji became a former MLA and a former minister. Vijaypur continues to remain a Congress bastion.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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