“IF such administration and competent officials have to distribute the certificates of election, then the elections should be stopped. I have seen administration officials in my constituency, campaigning in favour of the BJP, and casting votes. Whoever the BJP asks, the administration should give the election certificate to him,” Narayan Tripathi, MLA from Maihar legislative assembly of Satna district of BJP has made this allegation about his own government.

The BJP has neither responded to these allegations nor has there been any clarification from the government. The administration has also silently accepted these allegations.

But the responsibility for intimidation, and sighting was not only on the administration. The audio of BJP's Churhat MLA, Shardendu Tiwari is going viral. In this, the MLA is threatening the workers of his own party in unparliamentary language, saying that if the votes of the entire village do not turn in favour of the BJP, then he will see them. All businesses including illicit liquor and theft of coal will be stopped. The worker is also promising to cast his vote by bowing down. This is another picture of the BJP's democracy.

The curtain rises from another picture of ‘BJP democracy’ when Meena Singh, a cabinet minister in the Shivraj government, distributes money in her red beacon car after the election campaign is over. The video goes viral and the police say that only Rs 20,000 have been found in the investigation. Hence no offence is made out.

Such incidents are not rampant in the state. The BJP democracy has turned into a farce. Another example; Bati Devi wife of Ayodhya Prasad Yadav won the election from ward 17 of zilla panchayat in Tikamgarh district. The victory was also declared. The next day, the district election officer alias collector called Bati Devi and gave her the certificate of victory. The video of this certificate was also released. But before Bati Devi and her husband could reach their house, the police reached their house and started demanding to return the certificate of victory to them. Police said that it was issued by mistake. On not returning the certificate on behalf of Ayodhya Prasad Yadav, the police went away after pasting a notice at his house.

In Gwalior, the zilla parishad candidate of the CPI(M) was declared the winner by 163 votes. The SDM also congratulated her. But later when the pressure came for another candidate, the winning candidate was asked to meet the state home minister at his residence. When she did not come under this pressure, she was finally declared defeated by three votes.

In Singrauli, the municipal ward from where the CPI(M) was winning consecutively for the last three elections, anti-social elements of the BJP captured the polling booths. Ordinary voters were not even allowed to cast their votes. On behalf of the CPI(M), there were constant attempts to contact the collector and other officials against this. But the collector did not consider it appropriate to pick up the phone.

MAKING ELECTION EXCLUSIVE

Depriving the common voters of contesting elections, the administration issued many orders. For example, in Morena and Bhind in northern Madhya Pradesh, candidates and their proposers were asked to fill bonds ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 80,000. As a result, no candidate filed the form for 2 lakh 63 thousand panch posts. All in all, it was such a restriction that the poor and deserving candidates were thrown out of the electoral fray and the election became an arena for the wealthy.

The BJP or Shivraj Singh Chouhan government was not worried by this apathy of the public, but the chief minister announced that the gram panchayat in which the women sarpanch would be elected unanimously would get a grant of Rs 5 lakh. This was when the bids were being held in the panchayats and the candidates were bidding on the sarpanch post for Rs 60 lakhs.

But even after this, the public strongly opposed the anti-people policies of the BJP. Contrary to the BJP's claims, the BJP has lost badly in rural areas. The BJP has lost 515 out of the total 875 seats in the zilla panchayat. It has won only 360 seats. It is a different matter, as in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP was able to make zilla panchayat presidents in 79 out of 84 districts even after losing badly in these elections. It will try to capture the district panchayats by doing similar horse-trading in MP. But now it is on the people's representatives to respect the mandate, the people have already given their decision against the BJP and its policies.

BJP FACES SETBACKS IN URBAN BODIES AS WELL

The condition of the BJP in urban bodies has also deteriorated. It is noteworthy that due to the stronghold of the BJP on the urban voters and the middle class and upper middle class, the Shivraj government had conducted the election of the mayor through the direct system. Where it is necessary to note that in the 2015 elections, the BJP was in control of all the 16 municipal corporations of the state. But till the writing of these lines, only the first phase election results have been declared. Of these 11 municipal corporations, the BJP has lost four, of which three have gone to Congress and one to the AAP. AAP's candidate has won in Singrauli, and BJP is in third place. Along with this, the BJP candidate in Ujjain Municipal Corporation won by only 736 votes. That too when the rival candidate continued to demand to recount and the administration ignored his applications and handed over a certificate of victory to the BJP candidate.

In Burhanpur Municipal Corporation, the BJP candidate won by just 542 votes. There Asaddudin Owaisi’s party, AIMIM has cut 10 thousand votes. It is clear that if Owaisi had not helped in the polarisation of the BJP, then the BJP would have lost in Burhanpur too. If this had happened, the BJP would have lost 6 out of 11.

In the elections of the municipality and municipal councils, this time the election of the president was not done directly by the voters. Now the elected councillors have to elect the president. One of the reasons for the low turnout was that there was a perception among the public that the councillors elected by them were going to be sold for lakhs of rupees. Till now the election results of 35 municipalities have come and out of these, BJP has not got a majority in 11. Similarly, in 37 out of 86 municipal councils, the BJP is far from a majority. BJP does not have a single councillor in some municipalities and municipal councils.

The situation will be clearer after the full election results are out. But even in the results that have come so far, the BJP has suffered a setback. The biggest setback in this is the defeat of the BJP in the Gwalior Municipal Corporation, where 57 years of monopoly of BJP rule has come to an end. It would be pertinent to remember that the late Madhav Rao Scindia and then JyotiradityaScindia could not defeat the BJP even after putting in full force, but now JyotiradityaScindia is also in the BJP by turning the tide and the BJP is out of the municipal corporation. This is an expression of public anger towards the BJP.

These elections will have far-reaching consequences. The BJP itself has called it the semi-final of the 2023 vidhansabha elections. Obviously, these signs are not good for the BJP. It also remains to be seen on whose head the BJP blames this defeat. Or else the BJP will introspect its policies by peeping into its ranks. Things will not be smooth for Shivraj government.