There have been more setbacks for the ruling BJP in its own bastion, Madhya Pradesh with the party suffering heavy defeat in the local body elections at the hands of the Congress party.
Of the eight local bodies, the BJP could only win 3, while Congress won the remaining 5. The BJP had won 7 out of these 8 bodies in the last elections.
BJP has won in Chauhan’s home town Sihor, Shahganj and Mandsaur, while Congress made unprecedented gains in Bhedaghat (Jabalpur), Majhauli, Shajapur, Ratlam and Orcha.
This defeat will be seen as the waning popularity of the chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and the BJP, which has suffered a series of election defeats after its spectacular loss in the Bihar elections in October this year.
The party had also lost Ratlam-Jhabua seat to Congress recently in the Lok Sabha by polls.
Today’s results will give considerable boost to the morale of the Congress party, which once ruled the state. The party’s performance both in the LS bypolls and now local body elections here will be deemed as the much-needed revival of fortune.
This will also be viewed as a mandate against the performance of Narendra Modi, who’s been the face of the BJP since the general elections in 2014, when the saffron party won a historic landslide at the centre.
More to follow