‘Modi Magic’ continued as the BJP was heading towards a big win in Hindi heartland – Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while the Congress was maintaining a lead in Telangana as the counting for the Assembly elections in four states progressed on Sunday afternoon.
As the saffron party was set to win three states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to arrive at the BJP headquarters here on Sunday evening for celebrations and is expected to address the party workers, leaders, and the public, sources said.
Celebrations erupted at the BJP headquarters here after the saffron party took big leads in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
The party workers outside the BJP office were seen raising ‘Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai’ slogans, as coloured smoke filled the air.
Meanwhile, celebrations erupted in Madhya Pradesh as the BJP gained the upper hand and crossed the majority mark comfortably and is set to retain power in the State with a landslide victory.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was seen in a jubilant mood at his residence and flashed a victory sign at CM House along with his family in Bhopal.
The counting of votes for the 119-member Telangana Assembly, 199 seats in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly and 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly began at 8 am on Sunday amid tight security arrangements.
According to the official trends of the Election Commission of India (ECI) at 2:45 pm, the saffron party was inching towards a two-thirds majority in Madhya Pradesh while it has crossed the halfway mark in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
In Rajasthan, the BJP was leading on 106 seats and Congress on 69. The BSP was leading on two seats and Bharat Adivasi Party candidates were also ahead on two seats.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP was ahead in 159 while the Congress 68.
In Telangana, the Congress was leading in 62 seats while the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) was leading on 39 and the BJP 8 seats.
In Chhattisgarh, the BJP was leading in 54 seats while the Congress was leading in 33 seats.
In his reaction over the latest trends, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said: “The entire country believes in PM Modi’s guarantee and wants to join and support PM Modi’s resolve to make the country developed and today’s results clearly show this.”
“Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath are just history now. They should be forgotten now, and the country must move on the path of development,” he added.
Exuding confidence over BJP’s win in Rajasthan, Vaishnaw stated: “We will definitely win in Rajasthan as well. The public has given a clear verdict on the corruption and law and order problems in Rajasthan.”
As the BJP crosses the halfway mark in Chhattisgarh as per the Election Commission’s latest trends, BJP co-in-charge in Chhattisgarh Nitin Nabin took a swipe at the ruling Congress party referring it to be ”corrupt”.
Responding to the latest trends, Nabin said: “The BJP will form the government with a clear majority in Chhattisgarh. The Congress government did the work of looting the people of the state, and the people have replied to this today.”
“The people of Chhattisgarh have realised that the Congress government is corrupt and they have cheated the people,” he added.
Earlier, while talking to a news agency on the latest trends, former Chief Minister and senior party leader Raman Singh said that there is clear support for the BJP.
“There is a clear support for the BJP in trends. The anger of people has been reflected in voting. BJP will form the government in all three states with an absolute majority,” Singh said.
With the Congress trailing by big margin in three states — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Lokesh Sharma, OSD to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, seems to have summed up the mood in the desert state.
“Spring doesn’t come if old leaves do not fall,” Sharma tweeted in Hindi.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has hit out at Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and BRS leader K T Rama Rao and said that the people of Telangana have given them an answer as the grand old party has comfortably reached the majority mark as per the latest trends of the Election Commission of India.
He also thanked the people of Telangana for giving a majority mark to the Congress party as per the latest trends of ECI.
“I thank the voters of Telangana for showing confidence in us. The people of Telangana have decided that there must be change, there must be change for progress and development,” Shivakumar said.
Polling for Chhattisgarh took place in two phases on November 7 and 17, while Madhya Pradesh voted on November 17, Rajasthan on November 25 and Telangana on November 30.
