Bhopal: Posters congratulating Kamal Nath on becoming Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh were spotted outside the party's office in state capital Bhopal Sunday morning, shortly before counting of votes for the 2023 Assembly election began.
The posters read: "Congratulations to the honourable Kamal Nath for becoming Chief Minister."
Senior party leaders also posted congratulatory tweets on X (formerly Twitter) ahead of vote-counting.
Former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh said, "My heartiest congratulations to all Congress candidates. All Congress counting agents are requested to remain alert and conduct fair counting of votes."
However, when asked about the poster, Mr Singh told NDTV, "You will have to ask whoever put it up."
"The results will be better than our hopes and expectations. We are retaining power in both Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. We will reclaim power in Madhya Pradesh and claim power in Telangana," another Congress leader, Pawan Khera, told reporters.
The ruling BJP is widely expected to retain the state it has dominated since 2003; it has won three of the past four polls.
The blip was in 2018 when a Congress energised by Kamal Nath eked out a win, only to see its government fall two years later. This was after Jyotiraditya Scindia quit to join the BJP.
The Congress is confident it can upset its rival's apple cart, but the exit polls disagree; only four predict a return close to the 116+ seats it needs to form the next government and, even then, in each case the BJP is within striking distance in a state they have dominated since 2003.