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As the counting for assembly polls to four states progressed towards the afternoon, BJP appears to be consolidating its position across the Hindi belt to stay ahead in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh on the combined 519 constituencies. In Telangana, however, the Congress appears headed towards the government-forming mark to topple regional BHRS, which has been in power since the formation of the state.
Of the total 230 seats of the Madhya Pradesh assembly, the BJP, under its three-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, appears to be taking the state back from Congress, which had got the mandate during the last 2018 elections. Still, its government did not last long and is leading in 161 constituencies, per the official trends on the Election Commission of India website. While the Congress on 66 seats, BSP has one and the regional party BHRTADVSIP 1 each.
Likewise, the BJP appears to be regaining Rajasthan from Congress CM Ashok Gehlot’s government, leading on 113 of the total 199 assembly seats. On the other hand, Congress was at 70, eight independent candidates were surging ahead in their respective segments, BSP was at two, and HRTADVSIP was at 3.
The surprise performance of the BJP was also seen in the trends available from 90 assembly segments of Chhattisgarh. BJP seems to be approaching upsetting Congress as it was soaring on 55 seats while Congress was on 32, GGP 1, BSP 1, and CPI 1. Despite CM Bhupesh Baghel adopting politics that had a mix of Hindutva, the voters appear to be inclined toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi like in the other states.
The only consolation for Congress is in Telangana, where the trends show that it has cleared the halfway mark of 60 seats by leading on 63. The ruling BHRS is ahead on 41 seats, and the BJP, interestingly, is leading in 8 constituencies, which is two more than that of Asaduddin Salahuddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). If it manages to wing Telangana, the Congress will spread its footprints in the South after recently winning Karnataka.
The early trends when postal ballots were opened had shown that BJP had an advantage only in MP while it was in close contest with Congress in Rajasthan and trailing behind in Chhattisgarh. The early trends remained intact only in Telangana.
The results for the Mizoram assembly polls were rescheduled and will be announced on Monday.
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