With BSP, already ruling out the possibility of an alliance with BJP, the Congress may form the government in Madhya Pradesh with the help of two BSP MLAs.
Bhopal| The nail-biting contest between the Congress and BJP came to a definite end on Wednesday morning with BJP conceding defeat in the Hindi heartland state of Madhya Pradesh. Ending the electoral exile, the enthused Congress trumped BJP’s 15 year-long rule in MP.
According to the final results that were published by the Election Commission, Congress has won 114 seats in the state. On the other hand, BJP which was certain about retaining the state won on 109 seats. Two seats were won by Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and one by Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party whereas independent candidates won 4 seats.
The Congress leadership, headed by state unit chief Kamal Nath and senior party leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijay Singh have already staked claim to form the government.
Madhya Pradesh counting concludes, final ECI results – Congress 114, BJP 109, SP-1, BSP-2 and Independents-4 #MadhyaPradeshElections2018 pic.twitter.com/qCoBWyXCt1
— ANI (@ANI) December 12, 2018
In the 230-seat Madhya Pradesh assembly, the majority mark to form the government is 116. However, none of the parties has an absolute majority. Congress is two short of the majority mark while BJP is short of 7 MLAs. The fractured mandate has opened the doors for talks of an alliance. With BSP, already ruling out the possibility of an alliance with BJP, the Congress may form the government in the state with the help of two BSP MLAs.
However, it also has another option of aligning with the four independent candidates. All of the four independent candidates who have won are Congress rebel. So, it wouldn’t be difficult for Congress to persuade them.
Meanwhile, wheels are moving quickly in the BJP camp. According to the reports, a meeting of BJP leaders is underway at Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s residence in Bhopal. Senior party leaders like Kailash Vijayvargiya, Rakesh Singh, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Narendra Singh Tomar are present at the meeting.
Now all eyes are on the developments from the state. The game is still not over for BJP. As was seen in Goa and Manipur assembly elections, if BJP is able to persuade some Congress MLAs and woo the independent ones, it may have a shot at government formation. However, learning its lesson from the past, Congress may not want to repeat the mistake.
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