Bhopal: In a dramatic turn of events, Congress sought an appointment with Madhya Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel late on Tuesday night to stake claim to form government.
Results of only 138 Assembly constituencies were out when Congress hand delivered the letter to the Raj Bhavan late in the evening. Congress was however leading in 26 seats while BJP was ahead in 22 seats as the last reports poured in the state election office here.
Fortune favoured the rival parties in turns although the counting of votes making the outcome unpredictable. BSP, SP and independents were leading in two, one and four seats respectively.
Results of 179 seats have been declared by late in the evening. Of them, Congress has secured 88 seats and BJP has bagged 87 seats. Three seats have gone to independents.
While chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan won the elections from Budhni assembly constituency by defeating his nearest Congress rival Arun Yadav, at least a dozen ministers in his ministry were trailing in their respective seats.
Similarly, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ajey Singh, son of former chief minister late Arjun Singh, was trailing in his constituency of Churhat.
Congress has fared better than BJP in the regions of Mahakoshal, and Gwalior-Chambal, considered pocket boroughs of party’s veteran leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia respectively.
Meanwhile, both the parties have begun parleys with independents and candidates of other fringe parties to form government since neither of them could reach the magic number of 116.
In a significant development, BSP and SP declared to join alliance with Congress to form government in the state. Congress called meeting of its newly elected legislators on Wednesday to chalk out strategy to form government.
In a related development, the chief minister met four independent candidates who were set to win polls from their respective assembly seats, in his official residence here late in the evening. While BJP secured vote share of 41.2 per cent, Congress garnered vote share of 41 per cent.
Similarly, BSP, SP and Gandawana Ganatantra Party (GGP) got vote shares of 4.8 per cent, 1.1 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively. Singh, who was inducted into the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as Minister of State for Commerce and Industry in 1999, was sent back to state politics to lead the BJP in the 2003 assembly polls and steered the saffron party’s bid to dethrone the Jogi government of Congress in 2003.
