MP panchayat polls: BJP says supporters won vast majority of seats, Congress dubs it fake claim

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said its supporters had won 84 per cent district panchayat seats and 74 per cent janpad panchayat seats in Madhya Pradesh, polls to which were held recently, while the opposition Congress trashed these figures. Panchayat polls are held on a non-party basis, prompting the Congress to say the BJP's data was fake and that the latter had misused power to win in some places.

"BJP supporters have won 84 per cent of seats in 52 district panchayat polls. We have got majority in 44 of the 52 district panchayats. We are making efforts to ensure victory in polls to post of president in the remaining eight district panchayats, with hurdles being faced only in three of these," state BJP chief VD Sharma told reporters.

"The situation will be clear on July 29 when district panchayat members will elect presidents of these bodies. The BJP also won 74.4 per cent of janpad panchayat seats. Of the 313 janpad panchayats where polls were held, BJP supporters have won in 233. Information on the rest is being collected," he added.


Members of these janpad panchayats will elect respective presidents on July 27 and 28.

"As many as 19,863 of 22,924 posts of sarpanch, or 87 per cent, has been won by BJP supporters. Of these, 650 sarpanchs were elected unopposed. It clearly shows the BJP governments at the Centre and MP are changing the lives of people positively," Sharma claimed.

He claimed BJP supporters had won even in regions considered bastions of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Govind Singh.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress media department chairperson KK Mishra said his party's supporters had won 386 out of 875 district panchayat member seats, while 129 were won by Independents.

He accused BJP state president VD Sharma of providing fake data of his party's electoral victory and claimed the Congress would have won 125 more seats if the ruling party had not misused power.

Ministers were seen distributing money and Congress workers were booked in false cases, he alleged.

The Congress would take legal recourse against such incidents, Mishra added.

MP Congress chief Kamal Nath thanked the people for extending support to his party in the recent local body polls and tweeted that "we will again fight together" in the Assembly elections scheduled for 2023.