Big Cong gains in some regions

DIVERGENCE In Gwalior-chambal area, the party has more than doubled its tally; but it has suffered a decline in seat share in the Vindhya plateau

NEWDELHI: The Congress has made big gains in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections. Its seat tally has increased from 58 in 2013 to 114 in 2018. However, there is a significant regional divergence in the Congress’s gains over the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in the state, particularly in the GwaliorChambal region where the party has more than doubled its tally.

Madhya Pradesh is divided into six subregions: Bundelkhand, Gwalior-chambal, Mahakaushal, Malwa-nimad, Vindhya and Central region. Malwa-nimad is the biggest subregion in the state with 66 seats out of the total 230 in the assembly. This region has also been a traditional stronghold of the BJP, which won 56 seats in the region in 2013 elections. To be sure, the Congress did not win majority of the seats in any region of the state in the 2013 elections.

The Congress has won a majority in Gwalior-chambal, MalwaNimad and Mahakaushal out of the six subregions in the 2018 elections. Its best performance has been in Gwalior-chambal, where the party has won 78% of the seats. It increased its tally of 12 seats in the 2013 elections to 26 this time. The Congress has also made the biggest gain in terms of vote share in this region.

Kamal Nath, who is the president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, comes from the Mahakaushal region, where the party made big gains as well -from 13 to 24 seats.

The region-wise results hold significance given the geographical segregation of areas of influence of the two key leaders of the Congress in the state. Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is the Congress campaign committee chief, hails from the Gwalior-chambal region.

Congress’s better performance in the Gwalior-chambal region is in keeping with Scindia’s popularity among voters in pre-poll surveys.

The only region where the Congress has suffered a decline in its seat share is Vindhya. This is ironical as the Congress registered its best performance in terms of seat share in the Vindhya region in the 2013 polls.

Vindhya is considered to be a stronghold of Ajay Singh, who was the Congress’s leader of Opposition in the 2013 assembly. In fact, Singh himself has lost the election this time.

To be sure, the Congress vote share has increased marginally even in the Vindhya region on the back of its resurgence in these elections.