Bhopal : The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh lost key mayoral posts in Gwalior, Jabalpur, Chhindwara and Singrauli to opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has made a victorious debut, in the 11 civic bodies. The BJP has won a majority of corporators' posts in the local and urban body elections held in the first phase on July 6, the results of which were announced on Sunday. MP Assembly elections are due in November 2023.
In the last local body elections held in 2015, all these four mayoral seats- Gwalior, Jabalpur, Chhindwara and Singrauli- were with the BJP. On Sunday, the opposition Congress wrested Gwalior, Jabalpur and Chhindwara from BJP while the AAP made a debut by winning the post of Mayor in the Singrauli municipal corporation, sources said. The local body elections in MP for 413 municipalities, including 16 Nagar Palika Nigam, 99 Nagar Palika Parishad and 298 Nagar Parishad were held in two phases- on July 6 and 13. Under the first phase, polling was held in 11 municipal corporations, 36 nagar palikas and 86 nagar parishads. The counting of votes for these elections began at 9 am on Sunday.
In the first phase, elections for the post of the mayor were held in Burhanpur, Satna, Khandwa, Sagar, Singrauli, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Chhindwara, Indore and Bhopal.
After a gap of 57 years, the Congress won the mayor's post in Gwalior, a stronghold of Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narendra Singh Tomar. In Jabalpur, the Congress has won the mayor's election after a gap of 23 years with its candidate Jagat Bahadur Singh Annu defeating the BJP's Jitendra Jamdar by a margin of 44,339 votes.
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The Congress has won Chhindwara's mayoral post for the first time, the party sources said. In Gwalior, Congress' Shobha Sikarwar has humbled BJP's Suman Sharma by a margin of 28,805 votes, an official said. In Bhopal, BJP's Malti Rai won Mayor's election by a margin of 98,847 votes by defeating Vibha Patel of Congress.
The BJP has won Indore civic body with the party nominee and former additional advocate general Pushya Mirta Bhargava defeating his challenger and Congress MLA Sanjay Shukla by a margin of 1,33,176 votes.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said the BJP has won over 80 per cent of seats in the nagar panchayat and nagar parishad polls and also performed very well in the 11 municipal corporations. As per the results announced so far by election officials, the BJP has won the post of mayor in six municipal corporations - Burhanpur, Satna, Khandwa, Sagar, Indore, Ujjain, and Bhopal, while the Congress in Chhindwara, Gwalior and Jabalpur and the AAP in Singrauli. In 36 nagar palikas, the BJP has won 27, Congress four and Independents five, Chouhan said. Chouhan said in Singrauli, out of 45 seats, 23 are with the BJP and 13 with Congress. In the nagar palikas, where five Independents won, the BJP will come to power as it will support these five, he added.
As per the election officials, final results for mayoral posts have been announced in all the 11 municipal corporations that went to the polls. While the BJP won Sagar, Satna, Khandwa, Burhanpur, Ujjain, Indore, and Bhopal, the Congress won Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Chhindwara, while Singrauli mayoral seat was won by AAP.
The Congress stated that it has won the post of Gwalior mayor after 57 years, Jabalpur after 23 years and Chhindwara, a bastion of the party's state unit chief Kamal Nath, for the first time.
"The result is encouraging for the Congress. We have won three mayoral elections - in Chhindwara, Jabalpur and Gwalior. A large number of our corporators have won the civic body elections too. We won the top post of Gwalior city after 50 years," MP Congress president Kamal Nath told reporters. In Burhanpur, where the BJP won, Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM's candidate Shahista Suhail polled 10,274 votes. Besides, 677 voted for the None of the Above (NOTA) ballot option, officials said.
