New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged victorious in at least 105 of a total 133 local bodies in the Madhya Pradesh municipal elections, but lost four crucial mayoral posts in the state.
The opposition Congress won three mayoral posts, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which was contesting for the first time, won one.
Results of the first phase of polling — which was held on 6 July — for 11 municipal corporations, 36 municipal councils and 86 town councils were announced Sunday. The results of the second phase, for five municipal corporations, 40 municipal councils and 169 town councils, will be announced on 20 July.
In the first phase, the BJP won seven mayoral posts but ceded four — Gwalior, Jabalpur, Chhindwara and Singrauli — which it had won in the last local body elections held in 2015. The party faced major setbacks in Gwalior — a stronghold of Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narendra Singh Tomar, where it lost the mayor’s post after 57 years — as well as Jabalpur.
Chhindwara, Gwalior and Jabalpur went to the Congress while the AAP sprung a surprise by winning the mayoral seat in Singrauli. In 2015, the BJP had won all 16 municipal corporations.
However, the ruling party won most of the corporators’ posts in the local body election.
Madhya Pradesh BJP general secretary Bhagwan Das Sabnani told ThePrint: “We have won most of the councillors’ posts but lost three mayoral posts to Congress. Congress’ rise from zero to three is a booster for Kamal Nath, but we will introspect on why we lost the election in crucial Gwalior and Jabalpur.”
Sources in the BJP blamed the defeat in Gwalior on Scindia and Tomar allegedly pushing for their own preferred candidates during the selection process.
Meanwhile, Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) registered its first electoral victory by winning the corporator’s post in Khandwa city by defeating Congress rival Noorjahan Begum by a margin of 285 votes. The AIMIM fielded candidates in 10 out of 50 wards in Khandwa, and Owaisi even campaigned ahead of these polls.
AIMIM secured 10,000 votes in Burhanpur, which benefited the BJP as it split the votes, even though the ruling party won by a thin margin of 534 votes. The AIMIM opened its account in Jabalpur ward as well.
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‘Wake up call for our party’
In the municipal corporation elections, the BJP won in Bhopal, Indore, Khandwa, Burhanpur, Ujjain, Sagar and Satna. The Congress won Chhindwara after 18 years while its mayoral candidate in Gwalior Shobha Sikarwar won by over 24,000 votes.
A senior BJP leader who did not wish to be named told ThePrint that “infighting and lack of management in poll handling” cost the party. “We have lost two major municipal corporations of Gwalior and Jabalpur, we won Ujjain and Burhanpur by small margin of 700 and 300 votes. It’s a wake up call for the party. It’s not a question of individuals but of organisational handling of polls. This needs to be evaluated by central leaders and addressed before assembly polls.”
Assembly elections in the state are due in November 2023.
Another party leader told ThePrint: “The Congress lost most of the seats in the (2020) bypolls. BJP won in the bypolls on (Chief Minister) Shivraj (Singh Chouhan’s) popularity but within a year we are losing two important municipal corporations. It shows that the Congress is gaining, it has not weakened, at least in MP.”
The leader further said: “Our margin has lowered in this election. Earlier we used to get 3 lakh votes but this time it has reduced. Another concern is the emergence of AAP. Not only did it win Singrauli but also got a significant number of votes in many places. We are in government. If we are losing in local body polls despite that, it is a matter of concern, especially in light of party leaders who are gunning for Shivraj’s replacement.”
However, other party leaders said it would not be right to form an opinion right now as results of the second phase are yet to be announced.
AAP surprise
In Singrauli, AAP’s mayoral candidate Rani Agrawal won by a margin of over 9,000 votes, defeating the BJP’s Chandra Prakash Vishwakarma and Congress’ Arvind Chandel.
Agrawal had contested the 2018 assembly elections in the state and lost but had secured 32,500 votes. Formerly associated with the BJP, she had later joined AAP.
A BJP leader on condition of anonymity told ThePrint that ticket selection had been a problem in Singrauli, and Brahmins were annoyed by the party’s decision to field Vishwakarma, which led to the BJP’s defeat there. “Even the Sahu community, which is significant here, was not happy with Vishwakarma’s candidature.”
In the mayoral elections, Rani Agrawal secured 34,038 votes against Vishwakarma’s tally of 24,879. Soon after the results were announced, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted congratulating Agrawal.
मध्यप्रदेश के सिंगरौली नगर निगम में मेयर पद पर जीत हासिल करने वालीं AAP उम्मीदवार रानी अग्रवाल जी, सभी विजेताओं और कार्यकर्ताओं को बहुत-बहुत बधाई। मेहनत से जनता के लिए काम कीजिए।
देश के हर कोने में अब जनता आम आदमी पार्टी की काम की ईमानदार राजनीति को पसंद कर रही है। https://t.co/tqvXqFzGmi
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 17, 2022
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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