Bhopal, November 10: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in 19 out of the 28 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. Meanwhile, the Congress managed to bag just nine seats. The counting of votes for 28 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh began at 8 am today i.e. on November 10 in 19 districts where the bye-elections were held on November 3. The BJP was locked in a keen contest with Congress to save its government in the state. The Madhya Pradesh bypoll results hence determined the future of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. Voting for the bypolls was held on November 3.

A total of 70.27 percent voter turnout was recorded during the bypolls which were contested by 355 candidates, including 12 ministers. At present, the BJP has 107 MLAs, while the Congress has 87 legislators in the House. Exit Poll Results of Madhya Pradesh Bypolls 2020: India Today - Axis My India Predicts 16-18 Seats For BJP, Congress Likely to Get 10-12 Seats.

Of the total 28 seats, bye-elections in 25 in the 230-member Assembly on November 3 were necessitated due to the resignations of Congress MLAs who later joined the BJP. They are in the fray as BJP candidates in 25 seats. In the remaining three segments, bypolls were necessitated due to the demise of sitting legislators.

If the Congress manages to win around 20 seats, the team led by former chief minister Kamal Nath is mulling the way ahead. At present, of the total 201 segments which are represented in the Assembly, the BJP has 107 MLAs, Congress 87, Independents four, two BSP, and one SP. This means, while the BJP needs to win only eight more seat, the Congress will still be short by one MLA in case it wins all 28 seats for which bypolls were held.

According to reports, two Independent MLAs - Surender Singh Shera and BSP MLA Sanjiv Kushwaha have already pledged support to the BJP government led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Kushwaha said that the BJP government had his support, adding that he met the Minister regarding development in his Assembly constituency.

The bypolls in the state are crucial for both the BJP and Congress as their outcome will determine the survival or dismissal of the Chouhan government. The exit poll prediction for the recently concluded bypolls for 28 of MP’s assembly seats says that the BJP is likely to wrest 16 to 18 of the bypoll-bound seats; leaving 10 to 12 for the Congress party.  The BJP needs to win at least eight of these 28 seats to retain power and attain a simple majority in the 230-member assembly, whose effective strength is 229.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 10, 2020 07:15 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).