BJP set for a easy victory in MP

Ruling BJP today appeared heading towards a record third straight win in Madhya Pradesh leading in 152 of 228 seats from where trends are available.

Congress is way behind with its candidates leading in 67 places, while BSP is leading in five seats and others four.

Madhya Pradesh has a 230-member Assembly where BJP held 143 seats in the last elections and Congress 71.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is ahead of his Congress opponents from both Budhni and Vidisha seats.

Though several senior ministers including Babulal Gaur, Kailash Vijaywargiya, Vijay Shah, Uma Shankar Gupta, Jagdish Devda and Archana Chitnis are leading, Public Relations and Culture Minister Laxmikant Sharma and Anoop Mishra are trailing.

Gaur, a former chief minister, contesting from Govindpura for a record 10th time, is leading by 11782 votes over Govind Goyal of Congress, while Kailash Vijawargiya is ahead at Mhow against Antar Singh Darbar of Congress by 2889 votes.

Ministers Narottam Mishra is leading from Datia, Tukoji Rao Pawar from Dewas, Archana Chitnis from Burhanpur, and Gopal Bhargava from Rehli.

Their colleagues Laxmikant Sharma and Anoop Mishra, a newphew of BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee, are, however, trailing their Congress rivals at Sironj and Bhitarwar respectively. Former Union Minister Suresh Pachouri of the Congress is trailing his BJP opponent and sitting MLA Surendra Patwa by 10,000 votes at Bhojpur.

However, the Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, Ajay Singh is leading by a margin of 6120 votes from his traditional Churhat constituency.

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh's son Jaivardhan Singh, who is making his electoral debut, is leading over his BJP rival Radheshyam Dhakad at Raghogarh.