2-6% vote difference determines govt in Madhya Pradesh

Barring two elections, the difference in votes polled by the Congress and BJP in Madhya Pradesh has traditionally been between just 2 to 6%.

An analysis of results of the last seven Assembly elections, as per official data, shows that the difference between votes polled by the two rival parties has generally been not more than six per cent.

In the 1977 elections held in the aftermath of the Emergency, the Janata Party had swept to power but in the 1980 elections, Congress returned to office with 47.51 % of votes against 30.34 of the BJP.

In the 1985 elections also, the Congress got 48.52 % votes while the BJP had to be content with only 32.47 % votes.

The difference in poll percentage between the two parties was 17 and 16 respectively in these two elections, but it was never more than six % in the other elections.

In the 1990 Assembly elections, the BJP got 39.12 % votes while Congress was rooted out of power as it got 33.49 % votes.

In the 1993 Assembly elections, held a year after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Congress returned to power by getting two % more votes than the BJP. The Congress polled 40.79 % votes, the BJP 38.82 % votes and the others received 20.39 % votes.

A similar situation was repeated in 1998 when the Congress got 1.25 % votes more than the BJP. In these polls, the Congress received 40.79 % votes, the BJP bagged 38.82 and others got 20.39 % votes.

The tables were turned in 2003 when the BJP got 42.50 % of the votes and the Congress managed 37.70 % votes while others got 19.80 % votes.

In the 2008 polls, the BJP's vote percentage came down to 37.79 while that of the Congress was 32.40 and others got 29.90 %.