Madhya Pradesh Polls: A look at seats that witnessed close battle historically

Here, we take a look at such assembly segments that witnessed close fights since Chhattisgarh was carved out of MP in 2000.

230 seats of Madhya Pradesh are all set for the high stake polls, which are scheduled for November 17.

Here, we take a look at such assembly constituencies witnessed close fights since Chhattisgarh was carved out of MP in 2000.

2003 Assembly Elections

The 2003 elections were tilted towards the ruling BJP, who won with a clear majority, coming to power with Uma Bharti as CM and bagging 173 seats while reducing Congress to 38. Samajwadi Party was the third largest party with 7 seats.

In the first election after reorganisation, 29 seats registered a victory with margin less than 3 per cent. Of these 5 constituencies were such where 3 digit numbers decided the fate of candidates as margin remained well below 1 per cent mark. Bahoriband, Simaur, Amla (SC) , Dabra and Niwas (ST) witnessed closest battles of 2003.

Bahoriband and Amla were won by Congress candidates Nishith Patel and Bele Sunita by only 402 and 398 votes respectively, while Communist Party of India Marxist's Ram Lakhan Sharma came on top in Simaur by only 588 votes. Dabra and Niwas, on the other hand, were won by Bhartiya Janta Party's Dr Narottam Mishra and Rampyare Kulaste respectively.

2008 Assembly Elections

In the second state elections after 2000, BJP's seats crunched to 143 as Congress' increased to 71. Bahujan Samaj Party replaced Samajwadi Party as the third largest party with 7 seats.

The shift in overall trends were visible in close fight constituencies as they increased multifold this time. 54 constituencies saw battles where margin of victory was stalled well below 3 per cent mark. Of these, 18 constituecies were such where the fight remained on edge, as margin of victory remained below 1 per cent.

Panna, Dhar, Damoh, Parasia, Kolaras, Junnardeo, Silwani, Sonkatch, Hatpipliya, Dimani, Sirmour, Amarwara, Indore-3, Maheshwar, Pathariya, Pawai, Chitrakoot and Khargapur are those 18 constituences where candidates experienced neck to neck fight, so much so that few hundred votes turned out to be decisive.

Indore-3, Maheswar, Sonkatch, Junnardeo, and won by Congress. Devendra Patel and Ajay Yadav of Bhartijya Jan Shakti won Silwani and Khargapur respectively, while Rajkumar Urmaliya of Bahujan Samaj Party won from Sirmour. Remaining seats were won by Bhartiya Janta Party.

2013 Assembly Elections

BJP again witnessed a surge this time, winning 165 seats in total and thus began the time of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Chief Minister. Congress was reduced to 58 while BSP won 4.

In 2013, the number of constituencies that witnessed close fight remained high, with 42 seats registering victory margin below 3 per cent. Of these, 11 seats witnessed extremely close battles, with margin of win being stalled below 1 per cent mark : Surkhi, Jatara(SC), Mangawan (SC), Barghat(ST), Sardarpur(ST), Ichhawar, Vijayraghavgarh, Jabalpur West, Gwalior East, Jabalpur East (SC) and Mehgaon.

Jatara, Ichhawar, Vijayraghavgarh and Jabalpur West were won by Congress' Ahirwar Dinesh Kumar, Shailendra Ramesh Chandra Patel,Sanjay Pathak and Tarun Bhanot respectively.

Sheela Tyagi of Bahujan Samaj Party won SC reserved Mangawan, while other 6 seats were claimed by BJP.

BJP's Parul Sahu Kesari, Kamal Marskole, Welsingh Bhuriya, Maya Singh (MAMI), Anchal Sonkar and Choudhary Mukesh Singh Chaturvedi won Surkhi, Barghat, Sardarpur, Gwalior East, Jabalpur East and Mehgaon respectively by just a margin of few votes.

2018 Assembly Elections

The 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections was a political conundrum of highest order.

The winds had this time blown in favour of Congress, which won 114 seats while reducing BJP to 109. Kamal Nath sworn in as the Chief Minister. But in 2019, right before lockdown, 22 sitting Congress MLAs resigned, dissolving Kamal Nath-led government.

The polls of 2018 were telling of this unsettlement, as anti-incumbency had peaked. 44 seats witnessed closed battle, where margin of victory remained well below 3 per cent mark. Of these, the 16 segments that were extremely closely fought (with margin of victory below 1 per cent) were: Gwalior South, Suwarsa, Jaora, Kolaras, Jabalpur North, Bina (SC), Rajnagar, Damoh, Biaora, Rajpur (ST), Indore-5, Nagod, Nepanagar(ST), Deotalab. Mandhata and Chandla(SC).

Bhartiya Janta Party's Rajendra Pandey "raju Bhaiya", Birendra Raghuvanshi, Mahesh Rai, Mahendra Hardia, Nagendra Singh,Girish Gautam and Rajesh Kumar Prajapati won Jaora, Kolaras, Bina, Indore-5, Nagod, Deotalab and Chandla with margin of only few hundred votes.

The other nine seats were won by Indian National Congress. After the resignation of 22 sitting MLAs, by polls to the state resulted in BJP emerging as the single largest party with 126 seats, while Congress was reduced to 96.