Like in 1977, Congress reduced to just 1 Lok Sabha seat in MP

After 40 years, Madhya Pradesh Thursday witnessed a rerun of the post-Emergency 1977 general elections, in which the Bharatiya Jan Sangh(BJS) had won 39 seats, while the Congress was reduced to just one seat - Chhindwara - in the then undivided state.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP, a successor to the BJS, won 26 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh till late Thursday night and established huge leads in two other constituencies.

On the other hand, the Congress has managed to win just one seat - Chhindwara - and is unlikely to add to the tally.

Like in 2019, the Congress had won only the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat in the undivided Madhya Pradesh in 1977, senior journalist Rakesh Dixit said.

During the 1977 national polls, the BJS had won 39 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the undivided Madhya Pradesh. Congress candidate Gargi Shankar Mishra had won the Chhindwara seat, he added.

The BJP came into existence in April 1980.

This time, Nakul Nath, the son of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, won Chhindwara after defeating his BJP rival Natansaha Kawreti.

After Chhattisgarh was created in 2000, 40 Lok Sabha seats of the undivided state were split - 11 went to Chhattisgarh and 29 remained with Madhya Pradesh.

The BJP, during the 2014 national elections, had won 27 of the 29 seats in MP. The Congress had bagged Guna and Chhindwara.

This time, the saffron outfit wrested Guna from the Congress.

"It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Tsunami which has blown our party to bits. Had Modi addressed an election meeting at Chhindwara, our party would have been reduced to naught in Madhya Pradesh," a Congress leader said.

BJP candidates have established unassailable lead in two seats where results are awaited. BJP nominee Sandhya Rai is leading by a margin of 1,95,813 over Congress rival Devashish Jararia in Bhind.

In Rewa, BJP candidate and sitting MP Janardan Mishra is leading by a margin of 3,10,250 against Congress nominee Siddarth Tiwari.