Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj gets a jolt in civic bypolls

Strange and unexpected things happen in life. Politics is no exception in this respect. At present, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is touring the state in a rath worth ₹2 crore. Reports appearing in print media claim that he is getting good response. His morale must have been boosted to a great extent by reading the lead story published in a largely circulated newspaper. The story, based on a survey carried out by the same paper claimed that 54% people of the state still want Chouhan to be the Chief Minister after November Assembly elections.

But this happiness lasted for only 24 hours as the results of the local body elections declared on August 7 indicated that the ground reality is just the opposite. In a major jolt to the ruling BJP ahead of assembly elections, the Congress won nine of the 14 seats in civic bypolls held in 14 seats. The BJP won only five while an independent bagged one.

The by-elections were held on August 3 for posts of corporator. Counting for Janpad elections was also held on August 7 and yielded the biggest surprise of the day – BJP tasting defeat in its stronghold, Indore.

A Congress supported candidate won in ward 3 of Indore Zila Panchayat. Several BJP heavy weights, including Kailash Vijayavrigya, had campaigned for Ghanshyam Patidar but he lost to Dinesh Thakur, who was backed by Rau Congress MLA Jitu Patwari and Congress district president Sadashiv Yadav.

In civic bypolls, the Congress wrested two seats from BJP in Chhindwara and won each in Burhanpur, Neemuch, Gwalior, Singrauli, Satna and Guna. Officials couldn’t immediately say how many of these seven were held by the BJP. The BJP’s consolation perhaps was that it retained a seat in Mandasur, the hotbed of farmer agitation last year and one each in Damoh, Datia and Anuppur. An independent won in Bhind.

The morale-boosting win for the Congress comes within a month of its first ever victory in Pachmari Chawni Cantonment Board in 23 years, where it wrested six of the seven seats.

The ruling party tried to play down this score line, arguing that municipal elections are decided on local issues and social contacts of candidates. “BJP has always fared well in elections and these results are more or less the same as the last five years. The results will have no impact on forthcoming assembly polls.” BJP state spokesperson Deepak Vijarvargiya told media persons.

Congress however sees it more as a sign of winds of change. PCC chief Kamal Nath said “BJP’s farewell ceremony has started. These election results have exposed the truth of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government-funded Jan Ashirwad Yatra. Town council bypolls are people’s survey and truth of ground reality in MP. The BJP government has a clear idea about the mood of the people and knew that they would be defeated”.

Two other recent developments must have shocked Chouhan.

One such development relates to the observations made by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court while reprimanding the state government said that women are being raped left, right and centre. During his month-long tour, Chouhan has been claiming that he is the greatest champion of women’s rights and that women are safe and secure in his regime. But the Supreme Court thought otherwise. It observed that Madhya Pradesh tops India’s rape-list. The Supreme Court referred to the National Crime Record Bureat data. As per the NCRB data, Madhya Pradesh tops the list while Uttar Pradesh comes second. “What is happening in the country?” asked a Bench headed by justice MB Lokur and also comprising justice Deepak Gupta and KM Joseph.

Moreover, several newspapers carried a government advertisement which claimed that the state has already gone through a revolution in the field of education. It was an irony and perhaps a coincidence that the newspapers also published a report which said that Madhya Pradesh has third largest school dropout rate. In response to a question in Lok Sabha, Union government replied that dropout of school students was highest in Uttar Pradesh followed by Bihar and MP. According to this response, the number of school dropouts in MP is 2,35,384.

These three instances refute Chouhan’s claim that Madhya Pradesh has ceased to be a “Bimaru” state.