Madhya Pradesh is swathed in saffron and the result of the by-polls for three seats held on August 21, is only expected to deepen the hue. But even so, these elections are important for both the ruling (BJP) and the main Opposition Congress.
While the Congress is trying to recapture lost ground, for the BJP, the results would provide valuable feedback on the mood of the people ahead of the municipal elections. The turnout was high enough in Agar, Bahoriband and Vijayraghavgarh as the figures being 69.01 per cent, 75.29 per cent and 68.10. The bypoll was necessitated in Bahoriband as sitting BJP MlA Prabhat Pandey passed away, while in Vijayraghavgarh it was held as sitting Congress MlA Sanjay Pathak joined BJP during the recent lok Sabha elections. In Agar, the bypoll was held after sitting BJP MlA Manohar Untwal got elected as MP from Dewas lok Sabha seat. The BJP has lost Agar only thrice since Independence. The Bahoriband seat fell vacant three months ago after the death of BJP legislator Prabhat Pandey. This time, the party has fielded his son Pranav against Congress' not so well known face Saurabh Singh Sisodia. If there's any surprise package among the lot, it would be Vijayraghavgarh.
BJP candidate Sanjay Pathak is a Congress turncoat who changed camps in April. The mining baron, who also had to quit the seat, is now trying to win it back. Whether the voters would not mind his changed spots remains to be seen. Congress candidate Brijesh Mishra, who is also the former Mayor of Katni said, “Winning this election is easy for me. I'm the rallying point for voters who decided to ensure the defeat of someone who had been winning because of money power.”
Pathak is equally confident of victory. “Vijaraghavgarh is my family bastion, so there is no question of defeat. I'm only concerned about the margin of victory. People still relate me to Congress, so they might end up voting for the Congress candidate by mistake,” he said.