Cong wins MP bypolls, Scindia upbeat

The Congress has good news in the run-up to the assembly election in Madhya Pradesh. It has won two key Assembly byelections in the state, which is seen as a dress rehearsal for the big one later this year.

The Congress had held both seats - Mungaoli and Kolaras - which were vacated by the death of its sitting legislators. The ruling BJP had fired on all cylinders to try and wrest the seats from the opposition with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan personally spearheading a high-decibel campaign.

In Kolaras, the Congress won by 8,083 votes; and in Mungaoli by a slender 2,124 margin. The by-polls had become a matter of prestige between Chouhan and Scindia. Both seats, of course, fall under Scindia's parliamentary constituency Guna.

The formal royal had claimed during the campaign that the contest was not between two parties but "between Shivraj Singh Chouhan and me". The CM had dismissed it as a battle between two individuals, saying "I am not here for a wrestling match". Scindia, who addressed over 75 rallies and 15 road shows, said he was upbeat about a Congress victory in the assembly elections ahead. "Why wait for six months? I am saying let's have the assembly polls now."

In the Bijepur assembly byelection in Odisha, however, the ruling BJD won the seat that was held earlier by the Congress.