The BJP has won 24 of the 47 Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seats in Madhya Pradesh while the Congress has won 22 seats. Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Adivasi Party has won one tribal seat.
Tribal groups account for 21 per cent of Madhya Pradesh’s population, thus making them an influential voter-base. In the 2018 assembly elections, of the 47 reserved ST seats, the BJP had managed to win 16 seats, a significant drop from the 31 ST seats the party had won in 2013. Congress, on the other hand, had doubled its tally from 15 ST seats in 2013 to 30 ST seats in 2018.
The BJP has clearly managed to regain its popularity to some extent in the tribal areas, while the Congress has lost favor there, in comparison to 2018.
What Helped BJP in Tribal Areas?
Realising its downfall in the tribal constituencies after 2018, the BJP had left no stone unturned in its attempt to woo the tribal population.
The western districts of MP are dominated by the Bhil tribal community. Tantya Bhil, a freedom fighter against the British, has been a revered figure in the Bhil community and has recently begun to be recognised and acknowledged vociferously by political parties. The BJP government last year renamed four important locations in Indore after Tantya Bhil: the Patalpani railway station, the Manpur primary health center, the Bhanwar Kuan intersection and MR 10 bus stand.
In Chhindwara district, where the Gond tribal community constitute a significant population, the Chhindwara university war renamed as ‘Raja Shankar Shah University’ after Gond tribal leaders Sumer Shah and his son Shankar Shah.
The BJP has won tribal seats like Sihora, Bandhavgarh, Bagli, Harsud and several more by a significant margin.
Tribal Protests
There was, however, palatable anger against the BJP in some tribal constituencies too. For instances, in some districts like Barwani, there were widespread protests against the BJP over the handling of the violence in Manipur. On 9 August, which is celebrated as World Tribal Day, this was the first year when several Adivasi groups in Madhya Pradesh refused to participate in celebrations, and instead protested against the Manipur violence. The Congress has won the Barwani seat. The party has also won Sardarpur and Gandhwani, and others.
Anger over Manipur, the passing of the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023 and the imperfect implementation of PESA are some of the issues the Congress tried to mobilise Adivasi voters around, and that might have helped the party to win 21 seats.
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