Madhya Pradesh Election Results 2023: After the debacle in the recently concluded Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress high command has asked senior leader Kamal Nath to tender his resignation from the post of state party chief, sources said.
This comes a day after the Congress was routed in the state with the party just managing to get 66 seats in 230-member Legislative Assembly. Kamal Nath bore the brunt of this loss as the party had gone to polls under his leadership. He was declared as the chief ministerial candidate by the Congress party.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a massive victory and garnered 166 seats. However, Kamal Nath managed to maintain his several decade-old stranglehold on Chhindwara as he won the seat by 36,594 votes. He defeated BJP leader Vivek Bunty Sahu. In the 2018 polls, Nath's victory margin against Sahu was 25,837 votes. Since 1980, Nath has won the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat a record nine times.
Kamal Nath called a review meeting
Earlier on Monday, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath had called a review meeting of the Congress candidates for state assembly polls 2023 after the party's poor performance in the election. Earlier on Sunday, addressing a press conference during the final stage of counting, Nath said, "We accept the mandate of Madhya Pradesh's voters in this democratic contest. We will fulfil the role of the Opposition."
The Congress leader also congratulated the BJP for their victory in the state on the occasion. "I congratulate the Bharatiya Janata Party and hope they will fulfil the responsibilities of the people who have given them this mandate," Nath said.
How Congress lost power in state?
The Congress, which won the 2018 Assembly elections, lost power after its government was reduced to a minority following a rebellion by then-party stalwart Jyotiraditya Scindia. Scindia eventually switched over to the BJP along with his loyalist MLAs.
On the party missing out on a 'second chance' to take the hustings in Madhya Pradesh, the former CM said, "This was our second chance. I have always said that I believe in the voters in Madhya Pradesh. I do that even today. I hope that the BJP will live up to the belief and trust that the voters have reposed in them," Kamal Nath added.
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