MP civic polls: BJP retains seven out of 11 mayoral seats

BHOPAL: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday managed to retain seven out of the total 11 mayoral seats in Madhya Pradesh that went to polls, while the Congress wrested three seats from the saffron party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) bagged one.

The Congress termed the results as “encouraging”, while the BJP hailed its own performance in the elections as “historic”.

In the last local body elections held in 2015, all these mayoral seats were with the

BJP. In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his gratitude towards the people for reposing their faith in the BJP in the local body elections.

“This win is a symbol of people’s unbreakable trust in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in the state. Congratulations to the party workers along with the winning candidates,” he said in a tweet.

Assembly polls in the BJPruled state will be held in 2023.

The BJP won the mayoral elections in Burhanpur, Satna, Khandwa, Sagar, Ujjain, Indore and Bhopal, the Congress in Chhindwara, Jabalpur and Gwalior, while the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP, which contested the civic polls in MP for the first time, bagged the post in Singrauli.

Kejriwal hailed in the victory saying that it is an indication of the acceptability of AAP’s honest politics in every corner of the country.

The result with three wins might have brought good tidings for the opposition Congress. In the last such elections, the party had failed to win any seat out in the total 16 corporations in the state.

The Congress’s gain has resulted in the loss of three seats to BJP in the first round of mayoral elections. The grand old party is hopeful of pulling off some more victories in the second phase of civic polls for the remaining five mayoral posts.

A Congress leader confirmed that their party had not won even a single mayoral election in the state last time.

The local bodies elections in the state for 413 municipalities, including 16 Nagar Palika Nigam, 99 Nagar Palika Parishad and 298 Nagar Parishad were held in two phases - on July 6 and 13. Under the first phase, polling was held in 11 municipal corporations, 36 nagar palikas and 86 nagar parishads. The counting of votes for these elections began at 9 am on Sunday. In the first phase, elections for the post of mayor were held in Burhanpur, Satna, Khandwa, Sagar, Singrauli, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Chhindwara, Indore and Bhopal.

BJP candidates Madhuri Patel, Yogesh Tamarkar, Amrita Amar Yadav, Sangeeta Tiwari, Mukesh Tatwal, Pushyamitra Bhargava and Malti Rai emerged victorious in the mayoral elections to Burhanpur, Satna, Khandwa, Sagar, Ujjain, Indore and Bhopal respectively, while AAP candidate Rani Agrawal won the Singrauli city’s top post, officials said.

This win is a symbol of people’s unbreakable trust in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in the state. Congratulations to the party workers along with the winning candidates