Madhya Pradesh: It's advantage Congress but man of the match is Shivraj

Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for 13 years, fought the Congress valiantly in the assembly polls for 230 seats. Negating anti-incumbency in the state and the anti-BJP wave in north India, Chouhan managed to have a photo finish with the opposition Congress.

Currently, the Congress has won 69 seats and is leading in 44 constituencies. Meanwhile, the BJP has won 66 seats and is also leading in 44. Independents bagged four seats while the BSP and the SP together had won three seats.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accepted the party's defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. “We accept the people’s mandate with humility,” Modi tweeted.

Out of the three independents who won, two are rebels from the Congress. The BSP and the SP has said that they will support a non-BJP formation.

The closely contested election saw nearly a dozen ministers of Shivraj Singh-led government losing. Some senior Congress leaders, including the leader of opposition Ajay Singh, have also lost in the Vindhya region.

While Shivraj Singh won easily from his home constituency, Budhni, by defeating former Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Arun Yadav by a margin of over 40,000 votes, his senior colleagues like finance minister Jayant Malaiya and others lost miserably.

Another senior minister Narottam Mishra, who was accused of paid news in 2008, could barely win by a margin of just 541 votes from Datia constituency in Chambal region.

The Congress was expecting to perform well in the Vindhya region which has nearly 30 seats instead it faced a rout in the region to the surprise of its senior leaders.

Even the deputy speaker of Vidhan Sabha Rajendra Singh, who was also the chairman of the Congress party's election manifesto committee, also lost in the elections.