MP bypolls: Congress retains Mungaoli, Kolaras as Scindia wins battle against Chouhan

Both seats fall in the Guna Lok Sabha constituency that is represented by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had put in the hard yards in ensuring Congress' stranglehold in the two regions.

The bypolls were projected as a battle between Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his challenger Scindia. (File Photo0

The Congress received a shot in the arm on Wednesday ahead of Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections this year as it managed to retain both the Mungaoli and Kolaras constituencies, which went to bypolls on February 24. While Congress’s Brijendra Singh Yadav won by 2124 votes in Mungaoli, Mahendra Singh Yadav defeated BJP’s Devendra Jain in Kolaras by 8083 votes.

Both seats fall in the Guna Lok Sabha constituency that is represented by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had put in the hard yards in ensuring Congress’ stranglehold in the two regions, the bypolls for which were necessitated due to the death of Congress’s Mungaoli MLA Mahendra Singh Kalukheda and its Kolaras MLA Ram Singh Yadav.

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However, the BJP can claim solace from the fact that the winning margins in the two seats were much less than what transpired in the 2013 Assembly elections. While Congress won by a margin of 24,953 votes in Kolaras assembly constituency, in Mungaoli it thumped BJP by 20,765 votes in the last state polls. However, this time Brijendra Singh Yadav, who bagged 70,808 votes, defeated his BJP rival Baisahab Yadav in Mungaoli by just over 2,000 votes. Baisahab Yadav secured 68,684 votes. In Kolaras, Congress candidate Mahendra Singh Yadav secured 82515 votes, while BJP’s Devendra Jain got 74432 votes.

Scindia said the mandate in favour of Congress was a victory of truth and development. “People have taken a decision. It’s victory of truth and development. The people of MP have already taken a decision to oust the BJP from the state. The government that had not seen the face of Mungaoli in 14 years, camped there with their entire Cabinet during election,” the Congress leader said.

It was a see-saw battle in Mungaoli as counting of votes began, with BJP leading in the first round. However, the Congress candidate got his noses ahead from the second round onwards and maintained the lead till the seventh round. In the 11th round, Brijendra Singh took a lead of 5244 votes and maintained a consistent margin of over 2000 votes till the last round.

The bypolls were projected as a battle between Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his challenger Scindia. Chouhan, who has completed 12 years in office, and his ministers have campaigned extensively in these two constituencies. Scindia too had put in a lot of efforts. At one point, he had reportedly said he is single-handedly taking on the entire government machinery. The favourable outcome for Congress may see Scindia being projected as CM candidate when the state goes to polls late this year.

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