 "madhya pradesh election 2023, Madhya pradesh polls, MP election, MP polls")
Madhya Pradesh, one of the most important states in the Hindi heartland, saw the saffron wave on Sunday as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to register a landslide victory and return to power.
As of 6:30 pm on Sunday, BJP was leading/won 163 seats out of the total 230, comfortably above the majority mark of 116. The Indian National Congress was leading on 66 seats. The Bharat Adivasi Party won 1 seat.
MP Assembly election results 2023: BJP set to win, here's what the leaders said
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave the credit for the victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chouhan also said they have properly implemented welfare schemes of the "double engine" government.
"Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji is in the hearts of the people of Madhya Pradesh. The state is also in the heart of Modi ji. There is immense faith towards him. He held public meetings here and appealed to the people which has touched the people's hearts. Such trends are coming as a result of this," Chouhan said.
Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the BJP won due to its welfare policies in the state.
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"I have always told you that as far as Madhya Pradesh is concerned, people have given all their blessings to the double-engine government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi (at the Centre) and in the state led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan because of its welfare and development-oriented policies," he said.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the BJP's good show in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls was due to people's faith in the guarantees of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his concern for the poor. Vaishnaw said people know only Modi can turn India into a developed nation.
"It reflects the people's faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's work as well as the work done by the BJP government in MP. It is the faith in the double engine government and work done by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan," Vaishnaw said.
Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said the BJP's stellar show in Madhya Pradesh and other states in the Assembly polls was due to the "guarantees" of PM Modi.
"The reason behind the BJP's good showing is due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's guarantees, like his resolve for the welfare of the poor, empowerment of women, employment for youth, respect and fair prices to farmers," Patel said.
Patel was also contesting from Narsingpur where he won by a margin of 31,310 votes.
On the other hand, Kamal Nath, senior Congress leader and former CM of the state said that the party will analyse the loopholes.
"We will analyse the loopholes and why we were not able to make the voters understand our point. We will hold discussions with all, be it a winning or losing candidate...," he said.
"We accept the decision of Madhya Pradesh voters in this contest of democracy. We, being the opposition party, will stick to our duty. I congratulate BJP and hope that they will live up to the people's support they got," Nath added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that the outcome of the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections would have been different had the Congress shared some seats with constituents of the INDIA bloc.
He also said the grand old party should revisit its outlook towards allies recalling that it was Kamal Nath who had opposed sharing of seats with Samajwadi Party during elections.
Raut, however, added that the election results would not cause any rift among the members of the INDIA alliance.
"It is my clear opinion that the Madhya Pradesh elections should have been contested as INDIA alliance. Had some seats been shared with the alliance parties, such as Akhilesh's party, (Samajwadi Party), the Congress would have fared far better. His (Akhilesh's) party has good support in some areas, including some 10-12 seats known as the strongholds of the party. It was Kamal Nath who opposed sharing of seats with him (Akhilesh)," he said.
