OTHER states of the country may have had their own experiences, but this is the first experience for Madhya Pradesh when there was no difference between the State Election Commission and the ruling BJP. On many occasions, it was the chief electoral officer who was seen showing the way to escape the BJP leaders. For example, in these elections, there was a mess in the voter lists, which was never seen before. Not only the names of the people were missing. Rather, the polling stations of members of the same family were different. It also happened that in the ward in which the locality is, the votes of the entire locality were transferred to the other ward. In this chaos, voters found it very difficult to find both their vote and polling station. Voter slips also did not reach the homes. This was also the reason for the low turnout. When a BJP delegation met the chief electoral officer and wanted to register a complaint, the CEO said in a threatening tone, "Look, the government is yours." All the responsibility is going to fall on you and not on us.

VOTERS REMOVED FROM THE LIST

Instead of making the process of voting simple and peaceful, the election commission adopted the method of ousting ordinary citizens from the elections. As a result of illegal acts of depositing the surety amount ranging from 20 thousand to 80 thousand rupees from the candidates and their proposers, the result was that no one filed nomination for 2 lakh 63 thousand panch posts in rural areas. It is important to note that such bonds are furnished by criminals so that they do not commit crimes. Here 50 per cent of the candidates in the election were women. By getting them to sign this bond, the BJP government was putting women in the category of criminals too.

On the other hand, the chief minister, whom he was considering as an uncontested election and was giving incentives ranging from Rs 5-15 lakhs to such panchayats, the reality was that those panchayats were being bought from Rs 31 - 75 lakhs. This purchase was also happening not covertly but in public and its news was making headlines in the newspapers.

MASSIVE HORSETRADING

Even after this, the BJP lost badly in the district and district panchayat elections. The BJP has lost 515 out of the total 875 posts in the zilla panchayat. But on the lines of UP, where the BJP managed to capture the district panchayats by horse-trading 79 out of 84 district panchayats even after losing badly in the panchayat elections. The same is happening in Madhya Pradesh.

Till now, BJP used to buy MLAs of other parties and send them to other states. But now not only zilla panchayat members but janpad panchayat members are also being transported to Gujarat and Himachal. Not only this, there is a Scorpio car with Rs 50 lakh to one crore rupees for the district panchayat member and Bolero car and cash for the district member. All this is happening openly, but the State Election Commission is silent.

The State Election Commission does not want to appear impartial even for the name's sake. The condition is that in the state capital Bhopal, when the BJP MLAs were taking the district panchayat members to cast votes for electing zilla panchayat president and vice president, the administration was not stopping them. When former chief minister, Digvijay Singh tried to stop it, the administration stopped him. In the videos that are going viral, only BJP leaders and ministers are casting their votes for zilla panchayat and janpad panchayat members.

The BJP is not only making an opposition-free state, but it is also silencing the voices of protest within the BJP. After the defeat of the BJP in the municipal corporation in Gwalior after 57 years, now the conflict started between the new and old BJP in the janpadpanchayat. The home minister of the state wanted to make a president of his choice there. But the pro-Scindia group reached Delhi with the district members and was successful in distributing Boleros etc., and making their choice as the president. Another union minister Prahlad Patel and BJP leaders clashed. Both blamed each other for this.

In Morena, where BJP lost the municipal corporation, which is the home turf of union agriculture minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, kidnapping of members was done. By kidnapping some independents and some Congress district members, BJP made the district president. The BJP is not ashamed anywhere in this horse-trading.

PEOPLE DISSATISFIED WITH BJP

Overall, one thing is clear in the municipal elections the expression of dissatisfaction against the anti-people policies of the BJP government has been clearly visible. Voters have also punished BJP for its anti-people policies. In urban municipal bodies, where the BJP was running as invincible, the defeat of the BJP in 7 out of 16 is a big shock for it. It is noteworthy that earlier all the 16 municipal corporations were won by BJP.

In rural areas, elections are not held on a party basis. However, this time the BJP had announced who their candidates are. BJP ministers and leaders also campaigned for him. Even after this, even the relatives of the ministers could not win the election.

However, even after this rigging, neither the threat of the BJP is averted nor can it be assumed that BJP will be defeated in the 2023 Vidhan Sabha elections. If we talk about the municipal bodies, even after the defeat of the BJP, out of the total 884 wards of the municipal corporations, the BJP has won 491, which is 56 per cent of the total wards. Similarly, out of 1795 wards of municipalities, BJP has been successful in registering victory in 975 wards, which is 54 per cent. Out of 3828 wards of the municipal councils, BJP has 2002 wards which are 52 per cent of the total wards. It is clear from this that the organisational structure of the family of BJP and Sangh is quite strong.

It would be a big mistake to underestimate its conspiracies to abuse the government, power and government as well as communal polarisation.

Therefore, in the coming days, to protect the communal harmony of the state, on the one hand, all secular forces will have to unite and isolate the communal elements, while on the other hand, exposing the anti-people face of the BJP by intensifying the struggles on the basic questions of the people. With this, the atmosphere created against the BJP can be increased further and the way to oust the BJP from power can be facilitated.