Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections 2023: 10 reasons why Congress lost to BJP

There are many reasons for the debacle of Congress in the Madhya Assembly polls. The main reasons include intra-party squabbles, not reaching out to the people and being confined to social media. Apart from that absence of Jyotiraditya Scindia, who switched over his loyalties to BJP.

Bhopal: The Bharatiya Janata Party is on the verge of returning to power in Madhya Pradesh. Many factors turned the tide in favour of the BJP in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls. The BJP has ruled the state for 18 years.

Here are the ten factors that helped the saffron party remain in power by defeating Congress in Madhya Pradesh

1. The Bharatiya Janata Party's "MP ke man mein Modi" (Modi in the mind of MP) campaign helped consolidate the support for the BJP in the state. The rallies of the saffron-clad party helped to convince voters to trust the party in Madhya Pradesh, however, Congress failed to put up enough fight.
2. The ruling party's welfare programmes, including 'Ladli Behna' and 'Kisan Samman Nidhi' programmes played an important role in the victory where Congress failed to mobilise voters in their favour.
3. As the BJP has enjoyed continuous power for the past 18 years in MP, it became difficult for the Congress to compete with them.
4. The Congress campaign on the ground was invisible and heavily on social media resulting in the party seeming to have lost the polls.
5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flurry of rallies was able to convince voters whereas the grand old party failed to convince them.
6. The BJP ran a boisterous campaign spearheaded by state and central leaders to push through the message that a 'double-engine' government (the BJP’s terminology for its governments at the state and Centre) would live up to the expectations and deliver goods in the state, however, the rival party failed to assure the voters that their expectations will be fulfilled.
7. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan's appeal to the voters with multiple rallies worked out positively, whereas, the Congress party failed in that regard.
8. An effective poll strategy and campaigns by Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda and other leaders created a wave in favour of the party, however, the rival party failed to read the pulse of the voters.
9. Reports of initial infighting between the factions led by former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and Kamal Nath could have dented the grand old party's chances in the crucial Hindi state.
10. Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP due to which the then Kamalnath government lost the power and that paved the way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan to become the CM, once again. Jyotiraditya Scindia switching over his loyalties to BJP was one of the reasons for the defeat of the Congres as he belongs to a royal family in Gwalior, which has mass support in that region.