Madhya Pradesh Election Results: Congress takes lead in neck-and-neck fight with BJP, several Shivraj ministers lose

The counting of votes for the Madhya Pradeh Assembly elections 2018 is underway with the Congress taking a comfortable lead over the ruling BJP since early trends. While the Congress is inching towards majority mark to make a comeback in the state after 15 long years, the BJP is ahead in 105 constituencies across the state. Fate of Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan's attempt for his fourth term in office will be known in a few hours. Though as many as 14 miniters from Chouhan's cabinet are trailing in the state, he continues to lead from Budhni constituency with a healthy majority. While Chouhan has called himself the "biggest surveyor" in claiming a win for the BJP, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath said his party would get at least 140 seats to oust the saffron party and form a majority government. Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia are the frontrunners for the chief minister's position. After high-voltage political campaign by prominent leaders for over a month, the single-phase polls to the 230-member strong Assembly was held on November 28.

The post-poll survey conducted by News Nation predicted the fourth straight term for Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh. Chouhan has been ruling the state since 2005. Going by the NN Exit Poll, the BJP will bag 108-112 seats to retain power in the state. The Congress, in a neck-and-neck fight with the BJP, is likely to get 105-109 seats in Madhya Pradesh.

Read | Madhya Pradesh Exit Poll 2018: Shivraj Singh Chouhan likely to retain power in close fight with Congress

Meanwhile, readers who are waiting eagerly for the Assembly elections result in Madhya Pradesh, may stay tuned to News Nation (Newsnation.in) and our sister channel News State (newsstate.com) to get the minute to minute live updates on Tuesday. Read LIVE Blog here:

In 2018 Assembly elections, Madhya Pradesh witnessed an increase in the voter turnout with a record 75 per cent voters turning up at polling stations to exercise their franchise.  In 2013, the polling percentage was 72.13 per cent in Madhya Pradesh. Hence, there was an increase of about 2.5 per cent. Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh was mainly dominated by EVM issues with the Congress alleging illegalities in deposit of EVMs in the strong room.

Read | Assembly Election Result Live Updates 2018: BJP, Congress engage in close fight

In the 2013 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 165 seats while the Congress bagged 58. Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party and independent candidates had won four and three seats, respectively.