BJP consolidates lead in MP

BJP is leading in most of constituencies in Madhya Pradesh which will elect 29 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

Amid its dismal show elsewhere in the country, a resurgent BJP on Thursday continued its winning spree in Madhya Pradesh, bagging 14 of the 15 Lok Sabha seats, results of which were declared so far while congress opened its account by retaining the tribal-dominated Jhabua constituency.

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As the NDA suffered setback in states, including its bastion Gujarat, the results in state brought cheers to the BJP leaders' face as they pinned their hopes to improve substantially their performance of 21 of 29 seats in the past general elections.

The BJP appeared replicating its stupendous performance of the last year's Assembly elections when it handed over a crushing defeat to the Congress gaining a three-fourth majority in the 230-member House.

The dispirited Congress, which failed to recover from the heavy drubbing at the hands of saffron party, opened its account by retaining Jhabua, from where its nominee Kantilal Bhuriya romped home victorious for a fourth occasion in a row.

Congress, which appears failing to maintain its last election's tally of eight seats this time, was leading in high-profile constituencies of Guna and Chhindwara--from where Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath are seeking re-election, besides Gwalior.

The BJP won Rewa, Seoni, Rajgarh, Khandwa, Ujjain, Dhar, Khargone, Shajapur, Indore, Mandla, Satna, Betul, Bhind and Balaghat.