The Chitrakoot seat is a Congress stronghold, with the BJP winning it only in 2008 in the near past, but state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had given much focus on this byelection in the hope of snatching it from the Congress.
Party leaders said that the RSS’ decision to give the ticket to Shankar Dayal Tripathi, rather than Surendra Singh Gaharwar, who won the seat in 2008, played a role in the defeat. Tripathi, an RSS functionary, was preferred over Gaharwar, who was being pushed by the party and Chouhan personally.
The bypoll, which Congress won by over 14,000 votes, was necessitated following the death of the sitting Congress MLA, Prem Singh (65). Singh won the seat in the 1998, 2003 and 2013 elections, except in 2008 when he lost to Gaharwar. During the entire campaign, which was being managed by Suhash Bhagat, state organisational general secretary, who joined the position last year in April, senior state leaders of the BJP were neither consulted nor were involved in the exercise.
“Bhagat and Atul Rai (an RSS functionary who was asked to assist the BJP in June 2016) are still relatively new to the working of the party in the state and are still understanding the arithmetic. During this election, senior party leaders and cadre were not ‘involved’ and hence they did not work as they normally would have and decided to ‘sit’ out the election. Secondly, our choice of candidate was not accepted and even though the CM campaigned, he was not able to energise the local workers who wanted Gaharwar,” a senior party source said. Party leaders denied that the loss was a sign of anti-incumbency in the state against Chouhan and BJP which will complete 15 years in power in November 2018. “He remains the most popular face that we have and continues to enjoy immense support among the masses. The loss in Chitrakoot, which has always been a Congress bastion, was because of ‘technical’ reasons and a lack of coordination between the two bodies (RSS and BJP), which sometimes happens during elections. We have discussed all these issues with the relevant people in order to ensure that this does not happen again,” a senior party source said, adding that there was absolutely no chance that the party would replace Chouhan before the election.
This is the second bypoll that the BJP has lost in the state after Ater in Bhind, which the party lost in April. Out of the 12 bypolls held after the 2013 Assembly elections, nine seats have been won by the BJP (Vidisha, Vijayraghavgarh, Aagar, Garoth, Dewas, Maihar, Ghodadongri, Nepanagar and Badhavgarh) and three (Bahoriband, Ater and Chitrakoot) by Congress. A worried Chouhan has now shifted all his focus to the two upcoming bypolls necessitated due to the deaths of the sitting MLAs in Mungaoli and Kolaras seats, both of which were won by the Congress in 2013. Both these seats are in Guna, the stronghold of four-time Congress MP Jyotriaditya Scindia, who is likely to be declared the party’s CM candidate for 2018 elections. It is bad optics if the BJP loses these two Congress seats too.
For the Chitrakoot bypolls, at least 10 ministers were deployed with the CM himself camping in the area for three days and doing over 20 rallies. The BJP has now given the responsibility for managing the Mungaoli and Kolaras campaigns to four ministers each. For Mungaoli, Home Minister Bhupendra Singh, Energy Minister Paras Jain, Higher Education Minister Jaibhan Singh Pavaiya and Public Relations Minister Narottam Mishra have been deputed. In Kolaras, Chouhan has fielded Revenue Minister Umashankar Gupta, Health Minister Rustam Singh, MoS for SC Development and General Administration Minister Lal Singh Arya and MoS for Cooperatives Vishwas Sarang.