Madhya Pradesh assembly election results 2018: Congress stakes claim to form government in Madhya Pradesh, writes to governor

Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath on Tuesday night staked claimed to form government in the state, in a letter to governor Anandiben Patel also requesting a meeting once all results are in.

The governor’s office said, “an appointment will be given only after the situation is made clear by the Election Commission,” news agency ANI reported.

Kamal Nath said in his letter that the Congress has “emerged the single largest party with majority support” and that “all the Independents have in addition assured support to the Congress party.” He sought an appointment with the governor later tonight after all results are announced; he said he would meet her with senior Congress leaders to “apprise you and form the next government in Madhya Pradesh”.

The Congress had won or was leading in 114 of the state’s 230 assembly seats at 7 am, after almost 23 hours of counting of votes. The BJP is close at its heels at 109. Both are shy of the majority mark of 116 seats in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly.

So far, three Independent candidates have won and another one is leading. Mayawati’s BSP is leading in two seats and the Samajwadi Party in one seat. The BSP said earlier today that it will “try and ensure the BJP does not form government.”

“The ideology of SP, BSP and the Congress is the same - different from that of the BJP,” said Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

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In the cliffhanger that the Madhya Pradesh contest has been all day, the Congress right now has 40.9% vote share, while the BJP has 41%. The total difference of votes polled by the parties across the state’s 230 seats was around 46,000. In the 2013 election, the BJP had won 165 seats, getting a comfortable majority in the Assembly, while the Congress had won only 58 seats.

The Congress has also snatched Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan from the BJP today. While the BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for the last 15 years, it had wrested Rajasthan from the Congress in 2013.

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