Madhya Pradesh: Turncoats swap seats, Congress newcomer ousts ‘BJP’ minister

Madhya Pradesh forest minister Ramniwas Rawat, a Congress turncoat, lost the Vijaypur by-poll to tribal advocate Mukesh Malhotra when the Election Commission of India declared the results on Saturday, 23 November, along with those for the Jharkhand and Maharashtra assembly polls.

The by-polls at Vijaypur were necessitated after the six-time Congress MLA from the seat, Ramniwas Rawat (64), defected to the BJP ahead of the parliamentary elections this year, paving the way for the BJP's victory in the Gwalior–Chambal region, where the saffron party performed poorly in the last assembly polls. 

Rawat was reportedly disaffected with the Congress because the party had chosen ‘young leaders’ for the post of Leader of the Opposition and party president, passing over ‘seniors’ such as himself. Rawat was the seniormost leader from the party to have secured a victory in the 2023 assembly polls, and had served in Digvijay Singh’s government between 1998 to 2003.

After the BJP's resounding victory in the parliamentary elections, then, the saffron party awarded the turncoat Rawat with a cabinet minister post —  the forest ministry. 

The Congress, meanwhile, doubled down on its fostering of younger and newer faces, this time reposing its faith in Mukesh Malhotra — a BJP turncoat from the Sahariya tribe — for the Vijaypur seat. Malhotra went on to topple Rawat, with 100,469 votes to the ‘senior’ minister’s 93,105, winning by a margin of 7,364 votes.

The defeat would surely come as a bit of a shock to both Rawat and the BJP. Even last year, in the 2023 assembly polls, Rawat — as a Congress candidate — won the seat by a margin of 18,059 ballots, having secured 69,646 votes (36 per cent of the total votes cast).

Worse still, to lose face to a rank newcomer as rival! Just two weeks after Rawat defected to the BJP ahead of the parliamentary polls, Malhotra made the opposite journey, eschewing the blooming lotus to join the Congress. He was welcomed by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Morena. 

And the ‘upset‘ comes amid a spate of seemingly pro-incumbency polling outcomes across the country.

While in the BJP, Malhotra too had been given a cabinet-rank post, making president of the Sahariya Development Authority. His relationship with the BJP leadership, however, turned bitter when he was denied a ticket for the Vijaypur assembly seat in the 2023 polls.

Perhaps his victory today should not have been such a shocker, though. A defiant Malhotra went on to contest as an independent candidate, securing 44,128 votes (21 per cent) and paving the way to the BJP's defeat. He was clearly already snapping at Rawat's heels. 

But at the time, in 2023 — despite complaints of attacks on tribal villages to threaten the local tribespeople not to vote against Rawat, amid allegations of booth capturing and using violence to ‘dissuade’ ST citizens from voting — the Congress kept the Vijaypur seat... until he defected to the Hindutva brigade. 

This time, as counting began, Ramniwas Rawat seemed to again gain an early lead; but his margin began steadily shrinking after about 12 rounds. By the time the last round of counting was in progress, Mukesh Malhotra had secured a lead of over 7,364 votes against Rawat. 

Rawat’s loss will be a significant blow to the Mohan Yadav-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh — especially as regards its anti-tribal image.

On 12 November, a night before the polls, tribal villagers were attacked again. This time, it was the Congress itself that alleged the perpetrators were Rawat's henchmen. They had injured half a dozen of the Sehariyas. Reports still came in on the day of polling as well of tribal voters being restricted. 

For state Congress president Jitu Patwari, who personally campaigned in Vijaypur, the results would be a vindication of sorts. Patwari was the one who complained that the district collector and SP were ‘working’ more than the BJP’s own workers in the constituency.

However, the Congress’ formal complaint of both capturing was dismissed by the ECI. The party’s demand for the transfer of the DM and SP went unheard.

Alongside Patwari, Vijaypur in-charge Jaivardhan Singh had campaigned extensively to turn the tide against Rawat.

Campaigning on Rawat’s side, on the other hand, were senior BJP MLA Narendra Singh Tomar, state party president V.D. Sharma and chief minister Mohan Yadav himself. 

Union minister Jyotiradiya Scindia, who hails from the Gwalior–Chambal region himself, maintained his distance from Rawat’s campaign, however.

Scindia was said to have been opposed to Rawat joining the BJP — for the minister had initially refused to defect from the Congress along with Scindia in 2020, when the ‘royal scion’ led his loyalists in a revolt that brought down the Kamal Nath government in MP.

What further aggravated the situation for Rawat was his ongoing rivalry with Neetu Sikharwar, a Thakur leader in the region — also from the Congress. 

Indeed, a key reason for Rawat’s defection to the BJP might have been the Congress giving Sikharwar the Morena ticket for the Lok Sabha polls — reportedly against Rawat’s express wishes. 

Rawat, who held substantial sway in the Gwalior–Chambal region, went on to join the BJP just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections — and extensively campaigned against Neetu Sikharwar, eventually leading to his defeat. After Rawat joining the BJP necessitated the by-polls, Neetu Sikharwar naturally also joined forces with the other senior Congressmen to plot for Rawat’s downfall, returning the favour. 

Speaking of Malhotra’s victory, Congress state president Jitu Patwari told the media, “Rawat-ji, who got votes on the Congress symbol for the past 40 years, decided to switch to the BJP. This was not liked by even the BJP workers.”

He also asked how someone who couldn’t be “of the Congress party” after being with the party for all these years could possibly be loyal to the BJP either. “This was not a choice between the BJP and the Congress, but between humanity and terrorism,” Patwari added. “Vijaypur continues to remain a bastion of the Congress.” 

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Apart from Vijaypur, the Budhni assembly seat in Sehore district was another seat that had gone to the by-polls. There, the BJP’s Ramakant Bhargava won the seat with a margin of 13,901 votes against the Congress’ Rajkumaar Patel.

The election at Budhni was necessitated after former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan resigned to contest the Lok Sabha election from Vidisha, where he secured the victory and became the union minister of agriculture in the BJP-led NDA cabinet.