The assembly polls marked by high stakes and a barrage of freebies ended with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s big wins in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. As the poll results unfolded today, the BRS conceded defeat to the Congress in Telangana.
It was a neck-to-neck fight in Chhattisgarh, which was predicted to go to the Congress in the exit polls. But the BJP, which was betting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its star campaigner, secured the lead in 54 seats out of the 90 constituencies.
In Madhya Pradesh, the saffron party won 163 seats of the 230 assembly constituencies, while the Congress trailed with 66 seats. In Rajasthan, which kept up its 25-year-old streak of anti-incumbency, the BJP sweeped 115 constituencies out of 199 polling seats, and the Congress won 69 seats.
Notably, eight independent candidates won in Rajasthan, including BJP rebel and Vasundhra Raje loyalist Yoonus Khan.
Making inroads in the south, the saffron party sealed victory in eight seats in Telangana. Meanwhile, the Congress took the lead in 64 of its 119 constituencies, with the BRS at 39 and AIMIM at seven.
Amid the furore over the parties’ electoral performance, Newslaundry looked at how some of the key politicians fared in the assembly polls.
Chhattisgarh
Bhupesh Baghel: The incumbent Chief Minister who was contesting against his nephew and BJP candidate Vijay Baghel in Patan, secured victory by a margin of over 19,000 votes.
TS Singh Deo: The incumbent Deputy Chief Minister and incumbent MLA of Ambikapur was defeated by businessman and BJP leader Rajesh Agrawal. The constituency has been traditionally regarded as a Congress stronghold.
Raman Singh: The three-time former Chief Minister and BJP stalwart won from the party bastion Rajnandgaon, defeating Congress’s Girish Dewangan. He has been winning the constituency since 2008.
Deepak Baij: The Chhattisgarh Congress chief was defeated by the BJP’s Vinayak Goyal in the Scheduled Tribe constituency of Chitrakot by over 8,000 votes.
Arun Sao: The Chhattisgarh BJP president defeated Congress’s Thaneshwar Sahu in Lormi by nearly 40,000 votes. The constituency was won by a candidate of the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh in 2018.
Madhya Pradesh
Shivraj Singh Chouhan: The incumbent Chief Minister won from Budhni constituency for the fifth time in a row. He has continuously been in power in the state since 2005, with only a brief interval of 15 months after the Congress’s 2019 victory.
Kamal Nath: The unofficial face of the Congress in the state won from Chhindwara seat against the BJP’s Vivek Bunty Sahu. He has won every election from the constituency since 1980 and is also one of the longest-serving MPs in the country.
Jaivardhan Singh: The two-time MLA and Congress stalwart Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan won Raghogarh by over 4,500 votes – staggeringly lower than his previous margin of over 64,000 votes. He was contesting against the BJP’s Vivek Bunty.
Narendra Singh Tomar: The union minister, who had been under spotlight over his son’s alleged video discussing multi-crore transactions, won from Dimani with a margin of over 24,000 votes. His main competitor was BSP’s Balveer Singh Dandotiya, who secured 49,867 votes.
Kailash Vijayvargiya: The BJP’s national general secretary won from Indore 1 by over 57,000 votes. He was contesting against Congress’s Sanjay Shukla. Vijayvargiya has won every assembly election since 1990.
One of the most prominent leaders from Madhya Pradesh and union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia did not contest the elections purportedly because of the factionalism within the party unit owing to Scindia being with the Congress before 2019.
Rajasthan
Ashok Gehlot: The Chief Minister who resigned from the post after the BJP’s big win, recorded a victory from Sardarpura constituency with a margin of over 26,000 votes. He was contesting against BJP’s Mahendra Singh Rathore.
Vasundhra Raje: The former Chief Minister emerged as the tallest BJP leader in Rajasthan and won by over 50,000 votes from Jhalrapatan constituency. She is one of the forerunners for the CM post.
Sachin Pilot: The Congress leader who has been courting controversy over his differences with Gehlot won from Tonk by over 29,000 votes. BJP’s Ajit Singh Mehta gave Pilot a fierce fight.
Diya Kumari: The erstwhile Jaipur royalty and BJP leader won by nearly 70,000 votes from Vidhyadhar Nagar. She was contesting against Congress’s Sitaram Agarwal.
Rajyavardhan Rathore: The BJP leader won by over 50,000 votes from Jhotwara constituency. He was contesting against Congress’s Abhishek Choudhary.
Telangana
KV Ramana Reddy: The BJP candidate defeated both Congress state chief Revanth Reddy and incumbent Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao from Kamareddy constituency by a margin of over 6,000 votes. A businessman by profession, Ramana Reddy reportedly has 11 criminal cases against him.
Revanth Reddy: Telangana Congress state chief won from Kodangal with a margin of over 32,000 votes. He lost in Kamareddy.
K Chandrashekhar Rao: The two-time Chief Minister won from his bastion Gajwel by over 45,000 votes. He secured 46,780 votes in Kamareddy, trailing behind BJP’s Ramana Reddy.
KT Rama Rao: The state minister and KCR’s son KTR won from Sircilla by a margin of over 29,000 votes. He was contesting against Congress’s Kondam Karuna Mahender Reddy.
Newslaundry partnered with four other independent organisations – The News Minute, Scroll, The Caravan, and The Wire – to bring forth the election results’ in-depth analysis, authentic data and introspection. Watch the detailed results analysis here.
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