Bhopal: In Madhya Pradesh, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made history by winning all 29 Lok Sabha seats, marking a significant political milestone. The party's vote share also went up by 1.3 per cent. In stark contrast, the Congress party witnessed a 2.1 per cent drop in its vote share, signaling a setback in its stronghold.
The BSP's incremental rise in vote share by nearly 1 per cent proved instrumental in shaping the electoral outcomes, particularly in constituencies where the margin of victory was narrow.
In Satna, former Maihar MLA Narayan Tripathi, who switched from the BJP to the BSP, garnered 1,85,618 votes. BJP's Ganesh Singh secured the Satna Lok Sabha seat for the fifth time, while Congress candidate Siddharth Kushwaha received 374,779 votes, with a margin of 84,949 votes. Despite 19 candidates being in the fray, the most substantial impact on the Congress vote share came from BSP's Narayan Tripathi.
Former MLA Narayan Tripathi joined the BSP in the afternoon. In the evening, the party gave him an election ticket for the Satna Lok Sabha seat.
In Morena, BSP candidate Ramesh Garg received 1,85,618 votes. BJP candidate Shivmangal Singh Tomar won the seat by a narrow margin of just 52,530 votes, defeating Congress candidate Satyapal Neetu Sikarwar.
The BSP also made significant inroads in Khajuraho, where it received 231,545 votes, and in Rewa, where the BSP candidate secured 117,221 votes. While the BSP candidate finished third in 21 out of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, the margins of victory in Khajuraho and Rewa were 541,229 votes and 193,374 votes, respectively.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress garnered 34.5 per cent of the votes, which decreased to 32.4 per cent in this election. Meanwhile, the BSP's vote share increased from 2.4 percent to 3.3 per cent, underscoring its growing influence in the state's political landscape.
During the Lok Sabha elections, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) fielded candidates on all 29 Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh. Interestingly, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati addressed rallies only in Morena and Rewa. Mayawati's strategic rallies exemplified the BSP's targeted approach, focusing on constituencies where it could wield maximum influence.