The BJP's controversial candidate Pragya Singh Thakur has established a lead of over two lakh votes against Congress' Digvijay Singh in Bhopal, as the saffron party is ahead on 28 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh.
The Congress, which wrested power from the BJP in the Assembly polls last year, is leading in only one seat. BJP candidates are leading by over four lakh votes in Indore, Khajuraho, Hoshangabad and Vidisha. Its candidates are ahead by over three lakh votes in Betul, Dewas, Jabalpur, Rajgarh, Shahdol and Ujjain.
Pragya Singh Thakur, a Malegaon blast accused, was leading over Digvijay Singh by 2,11,874 votes in Bhopal, while Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia was trailing by 1,08,932 votes in his traditional Guna seat against BJP's K P Yadav.
Congress candidate Nakul Nath, son of Chief Minister Kamal Nath, was ahead of BJP's Nathanshah Kawreti in Chhindwara seat by 37,706 votes. In Rajgarh, Congress' Mona Sustani was trailing by 3,97,395 votes against sitting BJP MP Rodmal Nagar.
In Morena, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar was leading by 27,849 votes over Congress' Ramniwas Rawat. Another Union minister, Virendra Singh, was leading in Tikamgarh over Congress' Kiran Ahirwar by 2,98,957 votes.
In Indore, BJP nominee Shankar Lalwani was ahead by 4,80,627 votes against Congress' Pankaj Sanghvi. BJP's Vishnu Dutt Sharma was leading by 4,29,857 votes over Congress' Kavita Singh in Khajuraho.
In Khandwa, former Union minister Arun Yadav was trailing by a margin of 2,47,970 votes against sitting BJP MP Nandkumar Singh Chauhan. Another ex-Union minister and sitting Congress MP Kantilal Bhuria was also trailing by 1,06,224 votes against BJP's Guman Singh Damor in Ratlam-Jhabua.
Senior Congress leader and former leader of opposition Ajay Singh was behind by 1,67,315 votes against sitting BJP MP Riti Pathak in Sidhi. In Jabalpur, state BJP president and sitting MP Rakesh Singh was leading by 3,16,887 votes over Congress' Vivek Krishna Tankha.
In Mandla, BJP MP and former Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste was ahead by 63,902 votes against Congress' Kamal Singh Marawi. BJP's Vivek Shejvalkar is leading by 77,174 votes against Congress' Ashok Singh in Gwalior. In Vidisha, a BJP bastion, the saffron party's Ramakant Bhargava is leading bya margin of 4,16,892 votes against Congress Shailendra Patel.
In Hoshangabad, BJP's sitting MP Uday Pratap Singh is leading by 4,82,304 votes against Congress' Shalendra Diwan. In the Chhindwara Assembly bypoll, Kamal Nath was leading by 17,678 votes over BJP's Vivek Bunty Sahu.
-PTI