BHOPAL: The stage is set for Tuesday’s counting of votes polled in four phases for the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh. Ahead of the counting of votes, both political camps—the ruling BJP and opposition Congress—are confident about their prospects.
While the BJP is confident of winning all 29 seats, including Chhindwara (Kamal Nath’s stronghold, which was the lone seat won by Congress in the 2019 polls, the state Congress is optimistic about winning 8-10 seats. However, ground reports from the state’s 55 districts indicate interesting contests between the BJP and Congress for eight to ten seats, including Chhindwara, Mandla-ST, Sidhi, Satna, Gwalior, Morena, Bhind-SC, Khargone, and Ratlam.
Tuesday’s counting will also decide the fate of political heavyweights, including two former CMs: Shivraj Singh Chouhan (BJP) from his old seat Vidisha and Digvijaya Singh (Congress) from his home seat Rajgarh. It will also affect union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Faggan Singh Kulaste (Mandla-ST), and Virendra Khatik (Tikamgarh-SC).
Chouhan, contesting from the Vidisha LS seat after two decades, is expected to win by a large margin against Congress veteran Pratap Bhanu Sharma. Singh, however, is in a tough battle against second-time BJP MP Rodmal Nagar from Rajgarh, despite the sitting MP facing high anti-incumbency in the RSS stronghold.
Among the three union ministers in fray, six-times winner Faggan Singh Kulaste is facing a tough battle against fourth-time Congress MLA and ex-MP minister Omkar Singh Markam, while Jyotiraditya Scindia is believed to have an edge against old BJP family son and Congress candidate Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav from Guna seat which Scindia had failed to retain as Congress candidate in 2019.
Chouhan expected to win
Tuesday’s counting will also decide the fate of political heavyweights. Shivraj Singh Chouhan contesting from the Vidisha LS seat after two decades, is expected to win by a large margin against Congress veteran Pratap Bhanu Sharma. It will also affect union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Faggan Kulaste (Mandla-ST)