BHOPAL: The ruling BJP won 7 of the 11 municipal corporations in Madhya Pradesh where polls were held in the first phase, but suffered setbacks in Gwalior and Jabalpur, where it lost the mayoral elections. Low turnout (61%) in the July 6 voting had kept both BJP and Congress worried but the saffron camp had the upper hand on results day. Chief minister Shivraj Singh dedicated BJP's victory to the welfare schemes and development policy of PM Narendra Modi.
BJP won Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain, Sagar, Satna, Khandwa and Burhanpur municipal corporations. Congress won Chhindwara, Gwalior and Jabalpur Municipal Corporations. And AAP won Singrauli, marking its electoral debut in MP. In Gwalior, Congress's mayor candidate Shobha Sikarwar beat BJP's Suman Sharma by over 26,000 votes. It's after 57 long years that there will be a Congress mayor in Gwalior. It's being seen as a setback to Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia - whose rebellion toppled the Congress government and brought BJP back to power - and his Union Cabinet colleague Narendra Tomar. It will give more ammo not only to Congress, but also BJP old-timers in Gwalior, to target Scindia.
