Election results 2024: After BJP’s clean sweep, Congress has an uphill task of revamp in Madhya Pradesh

Congress faces defeat in Madhya Pradesh as BJP sweeps all seats, prompting introspection and leadership changes for the party.

While the Congress has a lot to cheer in the national perspective, the party will have to introspect its performance in Madhya Pradesh where it is unlikely to open its account. The BJP in the State is headed to a win in all 29 seats of the State.

The Congress also lost Chhindwara, a long-term stronghold of former Chief Minister Kamal Nath and the only seat it had won in 2019, with his son and incumbent MP Nakul Nath losing to BJP’s Vivek ‘Bunty’ Sahu by more than 1 lakh votes. 

Former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, who was fielded from his home constituency of Rajgarh, also failed to grab the seat from BJP’s Rodmal Nagar. Mr. Singh, who was initially not interested to contest, had a large void to overcome in the constituency which the BJP won in 2019 by over 4.31 lakh votes. 

Starring at another big loss in the State in six months, after the the Assembly election debacle in November last year, the Congress in Madhya Pradesh now has the tough task of revamping the party at the ground level in the upcoming years. In the Assembly election, the Congress had only won 66 seats compared to the BJP’s 163. 

The party was also marred by a series of defections to the BJP, including its official candidate in Indore Akshay Kanti Bam and three MLAs, shaking the confidence of party cadre going into the Lok Sabha election. The BJP proudly claimed that lakhs of ground-level Congress leaders and workers had joined the ruling party in the past few months.  

Speaking to The Hindu on the results, State Congress president Jitu Patwari admitted the Assembly election defeat and defections were major factors in the party’s performance. 

“We had hoped that the State’s public would align with the national perspective. But, we had just finished the [Assembly] election here and after that, we tried to do our best but its impact was seen [on Lok Sabha election],” he said.