NK SINGH
Bhopal: The 1985 Vidhan Sabha elections changed the colours in the political map of Madhya Pradesh. While the Bharatiya Janata Party has been almost wiped out of its traditional stronghold in Madhya Bharat region, it has been able to make an impressive dent in the Congress-(I) fortresses in Chhattisgarh Vidhan and Mahakoshal regions.
The results may have far-reaching consequences on the future, political strategies of both the ruling Congress-(I) party, which has bagged 250 of the 320 seats in the State Assembly, and its distant rival, the BJP, which has emerged as the main Opposition party by winning 58 seats.
The BJP lost heavily in the Madhya Bharat region, considered to be a stronghold of the party. It could win only 14 seats from this region this time as against 41 in the last Assembly elections. Its stalwarts like Mr. Shitala Sahay, Mr. Vikram Verma and Mr. Satya Narayan Jatiya were defeated.
The performance of the BJP in the Maha-Koshal region was impressive. In 1980 it could win only six seats from this region, but this time it gained nine more seats.
In Vindhya Pradesh, the Congress-I suffered reverses, conceding as many as 11 out of 40 seats to BJP. The BJP had only two representatives from this region in the last Vidhan Sabha. It also won three seats in Sidhi district, the home district of the Chief Minister, Mr Arjun Singh, where it had no base at all.
Another interesting point that emerges from an analysis of the election results is that both the Congress-I and the BJP lost several seats. they had captured in the 1980 Assembly elections. While the ruling party lost 55 of the 246 seats it held, the BJP lost 49 out of its 60 constituencies.
In all, the electorate in every third constituency in the State preferred to change their representatives in the Vidhan Sabha.
The Congress-I secured three- a fourth majority and also improved upon its 1980 performance. This was the most spectacular victory of the ruling party in Vidhan Sabha elections since 1957 when it had captured 80 per cent of seats as against 78 per cent this time.
Although 22 of the 28 ministers, who contested the election, won by handsome margins, the ruling party suffered humiliation in the defeat of six ministers and General Secretary of the M.P. Congress-I committee.
The congress-I suffered the worst discomfiture in Baikunthpur where its nominee, Housing and Environment Minister Devendra Kumari who belongs to the former ruling family of Surguja, was unseated. The Revenue Minister, Mr Muniprasad Shukla, and the Jail Minister, Haji Inayat Mohammad lost the election although they had changed their constituencies.
Minister of State for Irrigation, Mr Mohanlal Chaudhary, was trounced in Saraipalli constituency by a Congress rebel. Miss Pukhraj Singh, Minister of State for Revenue, Mr. Ramashanker Chaudhary, and the MPCC-I general secretary, Mr. Lalit Shrivastava, lost because of alleged sabotage by partymen.
A notable winner was the former State DMKP chief, Mr Ramashanker Singh, who merged his party into the Congress-I after the Lok Sabha elections. He managed to retain his Raun seat in the Bhind district despite the hostility of a section of Congressmen.
There were as many as 112 Congress rebels in the field, but only four of them managed to win. It is felt, however, that they were responsible for the defeat of Congress-I candidates in several constituencies, particularly in the Chhattisgarh region.
Indian Express
March 11, 1985
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