BJP won 54.5% wards while Congress won 41.6%. A total of 1,144 candidates were in the fray for 343 posts of cooperators in these 19 urban bodies of the state.

State election commission secretary Rakesh Singh said that BJP candidates have won on 183 corporator seats and Congress 143 seats. And the remaining 17 seats have been won by the other candidates.

Ruling BJP saw the results as thumping support for the saffron camp ahead of assembly polls. Of the 13 town councils that went for elections, BJP got seven while Congress was close behind with six victories.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former chief minister Kamal Nath took to twitter and thanked voters of these urban civic bodies.

Chouhan tweeted, "Hearty congratulations to all friends of @BJPMP for the resounding victory in the town councils of Jaithari, Omkareshwar, Khetia, Pansemal, Rajpur, Anjad, Dahi and the municipalities of Barwani, Sendhwa, Dhar and Manawar."

The Congress expressed satisfaction winning eight of the 19 municipalities, the party won Raghogarha and Pithampur while the BJP secured Badwani, Sendhwa, Dhar, and Manawar.

PCC chief Kamal Nath tweeted "In the urban civic polls held in 19 municipal bodies in the state, the Congress party has got a clear victory in eight. In the other municipal bodies, Congress candidates were prevented from winning on the strength of police, money and administration.

Nath also said "I congratulate all newly elected councillors and those who contested in these elections. People have again made it clear that their mind has been made up in favour of the Congress party. I thank the people of all the municipal bodies for their love and blessings".

Congress retained its bastion Raghogarh, the home town of senior party leader and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh. Of the 24 wards Congress candidates won 16 while BJP got eight. But despite the loss of Raghogarh, state BJP was elated with its workers having given a fight in Digvijaya Singh's turf.

"Our party workers tolled hard and put-up an impressive fight in Raghogarh" state BJP chief VD Sharma argued. "In the upcoming assembly elections, BJP will win Raghogarh seat" he said.

There were no big municipal corporations in the elections but these small urban bodies may have a major message for both the Congress and BJP.

Be it Barwani, Sendhwa, Dhar, Manawar or the smaller town councils of Dhamnod, Kukshi, Dharmpur or Sardaur – majority of these municipal areas fall in the tribal dominated districts. Based on these results nine months before the assembly elections, the parties may review their present situation in the tribal tracts.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Sunday reconstituted the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). In a jumbo body (which does not have any mention of secretaries, treasurer or any frontal body office-bearers) there are 50 vice-presidents and 105 general secretaries.

The 21 member political affairs committee for Madhya Pradesh, which goes to polls later this year, includes state congress chief Kamal Nath and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh, besides Govind Singh, kanti Lal Bhuria, Suresh Pachouri, Arun Yadav, Ajay Singh, Vivek Tankha, Nakul Nath, Jitu Patwari, Mahendra Joshi and Shobha Ozha.

Besides, district Congress presidents of 64 organisational districts of the party have also been announced.

A day after the AICC announced the list of the state Congress working committee and office-bearers, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took a dig at the opposition party. Speaking to reporters he said "That is not a working committee it is a circus. There are no party workers left. Whoever remains has been made an office-bearer."

Reacting to Chouhan's comment, former minister and Congress MLA from Bhopal south-west seat P C Sharma said, "No matter what Chouhan says, it is indeed a great working committee that incorporates all state level leaders. This is our organisation and has been formed after organisation elections". (IPA Service)