The last phase is set to be a thriller as saffron bastion Malwa-Nimar becomes the battleground for a resurgent Congress and a gritty BJP determined to regain lost ground.
The battle hinges on PM
Narendra Modi’s popularity and Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s loan waiver and Nyay schemes. And the performance of the Congress state government will be tested by BJP’s narrative that the
Kamal Nath administration has failed to deliver.
In the 2014
Lok Sabha
polls, BJP had won all eight seats. But in a 2015 bypoll, Congress snatched Ratlam from BJP. And in 2018 assembly polls, BJP’s tally was halved from 56 of 66 seats in 2013 to 28 seats. Congress won 35 seats in a region considered BJP’s stronghold The 2018 assembly polls were fought against the backdrop of the Mandsaur police firing but BJP defied speculation to do well in the region. But Congress’s farm loan waiver proved to be a game changer and it also made significant inroads in tribal-dominated districts.
In 2019, local candidates fade into the background as BJP asks for votes in Modi’s name. BJP is experimenting with new faces in Ujjain, Dewas, Ratlam, Dhar and Indore, where it dropped eight-time MP Sumitra Mahajan. Congress, on the other hand, is claiming laurels for its farm loan waiver scheme.