Congress veteran Kamal Nath had campaigned extensively for his son Nakul Nath
Bhopal:
Among the states that handed over a 100 per cent result to the BJP in this election is Madhya Pradesh, where it swept all 29 seats. The Congress, which improved its overall tally this time, was wiped out in the heartland state, also losing the one seat it won in the 2019 polls.
The defeat on two seats in Madhya Pradesh will sting the Congress the most — these are Chhindwara and Ratlam. Congress veteran Kamal Nath, who won the seat a record nine times since the 1980s, failed to ensure his son Nakul Nath’s victory. In Ratlam, it was the other way round. Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria lost despite his son being MLA in one of the Assembly segments in the Lok Sabha constituency.
Under the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat are seven Assembly segments — Junnardeo (ST), Amarwara, Chourai, Sausar, Chhindwara, Parasiya (SC) and Pandhurna (ST). Out of these, six are currently held by the Congress. Despite this, Kamal Nath’s son and sitting MP Nakul Nath lost to the BJP’s Bunty Vivek Sahu by a margin of over 1 lakh votes. In fact, Nakul Nath got lesser vote than the BJP candidate even in Chhindwara Assembly segment, where his father is sitting MLA. While Nakul Nath got 95,890 votes in this segment, Mr Sahu got 1,08,978.
The Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat had stayed with the Naths even during the BJP’s landslide victory in the 2014 and 2019 polls. Before 2024, the only time the BJP won this seat was in 1997 when former Chief Minister Sunder Lal Patwa emerged victorious.
Kamal Nath had led his son’s campaign in his stronghold, attending public meetings, roadshows and small gatherings to seek support for his son. Last time, Nakul Nath won the seat by a margin of 37,536, much lower than his father’s victory margin in 2014.
Eight Assembly constituencies are part of the Ratlam Lok Sabha seat, and three of them are held by the Congress. The party’s candidate was five-time MP and former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria. The Congress veteran was defeated by BJP’s Anita Nagarsingh Chouhan, who contested her first Lok Sabha election, by a margin of 2 lakh votes. Mr Bhuria’s son Vikrant Bhuria is MLA from Jhabua segment, but his father trailed in this area by 9,000 votes.
In Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP won Assembly polls last year, the ruling BJP cornered 59 per cent vote-share and the Congress got 32 per cent votes.