It was a thumping victory of the BJP in the urban bodies’ elections, but the outcome was surprising in some pockets. At places, Congress bigwigs and four Ministers of the Government failed to register victory in their home districts.
Party sources feel that whether in the Congress or the BJP, it was mostly the distribution of tickets that could be held responsible for the defeat.
Among senior leader of the Congress, former MP Sajjan Singh Verma could not save Dewas municipality. Verma was chief of the urban bodies election committee and the candidates in the municipality were of his liking. Probably, this was the reason that other factions of the party got annoyed and worked against the party nominee. Following this, the Congress failed in wresting neither Dewas municipality nor any nagar parishad.
Similarly, former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia could not succeed in winning in Gwalior and his constituency Guna-Shivpuri. His candidate in Gwalior Darshan Singh was defeated, while the Congress could register victory in Mungawali nagar parishad of Ashok Nagar district. In Shivpuri, the BJP and the Congress wrested two parishads each.
Former leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly and senior Congress leader Ajay Singh also failed in winning any local body. Particularly in Baghelkhand, the Congress faced problems by annoying senior party leader Srinivas Tiwari by not fielding any of his candidates.
PCC Chief Arun Yadav could not succeed in any local body in his constituency Khandwa-Burhanpur, but he could be satisfied with Badwah and Sanawad municipalities in Khargone district, where Congress emerged victorious.Besides, it was face saving for former Union Minister Kamla Nath by registering victory in Chaurai municipality and Neuton Chikhli nagar parishad of Chhindwara district. The Congress lost both the municipalities in leader of the Opposition Satyadev Katare’s home district. Similar was the situation in home district of Congress leader Digvijay Singh in Rajgarh, where the BJP won all six nagar parishads.
Besides, some of the BJP leaders also faced problems in their home districts. The BJP lost in Ashta municipality that falls in Sehore, home district of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.Senior Minister in the State Narottam Mishra’s candidate lost in Datia municipality. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Ratanlal Saraf registered victory in Datia. Even in the ward 30 of Datia, where the minister is a voter, an independent candidate Harwansh Kumari emerged victorious.
Similar was the case with Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya in Damoh district. In the constituency of Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, the BJP could not win the Ambah municipality. BJP also lost in Silwani nagar parishad of minister Rampal Singh, Badi nagar parishad of Tourism Minister Surendra Patwa and lateri nagar parishad of Union Minister Sushma Swaraj’s constituency. BJP also lost in two nagar parishads of Industry Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, constituency.