Bhopal: If we discuss the Indore-Ujjain division in the context of the election campaign, Congress seems to be giving competition only in Ratlam Jhabua. BJP is leading in all other seven seats. Despite BJP being in a strong position, its style does not feel good. Beyond being complacent, BJP is so active in the field that field work is being done continuously even on the seats which it has won by a long margin and continuously. On the other hand, if we talk about the main opposition party Congress, it seems that the party is still in shock of the crushing defeat in the assembly elections. Has not recovered from it. Efforts like desertion of senior leaders created an atmosphere of confusion within the party, while on the other hand, the party also lost its sweat in the selection of Lok Sabha candidates. However, in this situation, it remains to be seen how strongly the Congress party will stand against the BJP.
There are total eight Lok Sabha seats in Malwa Nimar i.e. Indore Ujjain division. The BJP flag is flying on all these seats. A seat like Indore has become an invincible stronghold of BJP. Talking about the margin of victory on seats, BJP won Ratlam Jhabua seat by more than 90 thousand votes, Ratlam Jhabua seat by about 1.5 lakh votes and Khandwa by-election by about 80 thousand votes. The margin of victory on all the remaining five seats ranges from two lakh to five and a half lakh. It is noteworthy that there are a total of 66 assembly seats in the state, but only 64 seats are counted in the Lok Sabha elections. Because Susner seat of Agar district is included in Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency and Khategaon seat is included in Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency. If we look at the assembly seats falling under the Lok Sabha seats of the state, Congress has become weaker in the 2023 elections as compared to 2018.
If we talk about the 2018 elections, 33 seats went to BJP’s account, 29 to Congress and 2 to Independents. However, after the by-elections there was a considerable difference in the seats. Congress could not live up to its past performance in the 2023 elections. In this election, BJP was successful in hoisting the flag of victory on 47 seats whereas Congress was reduced to only 16 seats while the Sailana seat of Ratlam Lok Sabha constituency went to the account of an independent. That means Congress has suffered a setback in the assembly elections in this area. Apart from this, the party’s election campaign has also been affected due to differences between State Congress President Jitu Patwari and Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar.
