In March 2020, a political crisis took place in the state of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, India, due to the resignation of 22 sitting

MLAs The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction du ...

of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

party from the state's Legislative Assembly. It eventually led to the fall of the Kamal Nath government and the subsequent formation of the fourth Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh.

Timeline

* In November 2018,

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

in Madhya Pradesh were held for all constituencies of the Legislative Assembly. Although no party got a majority, the

(INC) was the single largest party in the assembly. They formed the government with the help of one BSP MLA, one SP MLA and four

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

MLAs.

Kamal Nath Kamal Nath (born 18 November 1946) is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for approximately 15 months and resigned after a political crisis. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Legi ...

was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. * On 5 March 2020, 10 MLAs (6 Congress members, 2 from BSP, 1 from SP and 1 Independent), flew to Delhi. 6 of these MLAs initially returned. The remaining 4 MLAs then flew to Bengaluru, where Congress MLA Hardeep Dang resigned from the party. The remaining three MLAs returned soon and denied the claims, made by other Congress leaders, that they were a part of horse-trading. * On 10 March 2020, a senior leader of INC,

Jyotiraditya Scindia Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia (born 1 January 1971) is an Indian politician who serves as the Minister of Civil Aviation, a position his father also held from 1991 to 1993. He also heads the Ministry of Steel. He is a Member of Parliament i ...

suddenly went to meet Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

, and

Amit Shah Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata P ...

, Home Minister of India. After meeting them, at around 11:30 am, he resigned from the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

party, saying that he felt very guilty while working for Congress. * The next day (11 March), at around 3:00 pm, he joined

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

in the presence of

Jagat Prakash Nadda Jagat Prakash Nadda (born 2 December 1960) is an Indian lawyer and politician serving as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 20 January 2020. He was the BJP's working president from June 2019 to January 2020. Nadda is the ...

, National President of

. After joining the party, he slammed

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh is the chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate exe ...

and other

leaders for not giving the importance in the party. Throughout his

press conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...

, he didn't mention the names of the Nehru-Gandhi Family. After joining the party, he was given the ticket of

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

from Madhya Pradesh by

Shivraj Singh Chouhan Shivraj Singh Chouhan (born 5 March 1959), is an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the 17th and current Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, having been elected to the same position 3 times in the past, and a Member ...

. * Both the parties (INC and BJP) approached the Supreme Court (SC) to ask for a floor test in Madhya Pradesh. On 19 March 2020, the SC ordered that the floor test in the

Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha or the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Madhya Pradesh state in India. The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Bhopal, the capital of the state. It is housed in the ''Vidhan ...

should be done by 5:00 pm, of 20 March 2020. * On 20 March 2020, after a press conference at noon, the Chief Minister

tendered his resignation. * On 21 March 2020, in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, all the 22 rebel ex-Congress MLAs joined the

, in presence of BJP's national president

J P Nadda Jagat Prakash Nadda (born 2 December 1960) is an Indian lawyer and politician serving as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 20 January 2020. He was the BJP's working president from June 2019 to January 2020. Nadda is the ...

. * On 23 March 2020,

took oath as the new Chief Minister.

Later events

* By 23 July 2020, another 3

MLAs (

Pradyuman Singh Lodhi Kunwar Pradyuman Singh Lodhi is an Indian politician. He is a member and head of royal House of Hindoria and descendant of Raja Kishore Singh Lodhi of Hindoria who rebelled against Britishers in 1857. He was elected to the Madhya Pradesh Leg ...

(of Malhara),

Sumitra Devi Kasdekar Sumitra Devi Kasdekar is an Indian politician. She was elected to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Nepanagar. She was an elected member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly as a member of the Indian National Congress. She lef ...

(of

Nepanagar Nepanagar is an industrial township in Burhanpur district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Nepanagar is famous for its newsprint paper mill, Nepa Mills Limited (earlier known as The National News Print Ltd). Nepa Mill is Asia's first paper ...

) and Narayan Patel (of

Mandhata Mandhata, also called Shivapuri or Mahismati, Capital of Awanti Mahajanpad Omkareshwar, is a riverine island in the Narmada river in Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh, India. Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga is situated on the southern part of the i ...

)) had resigned to join the

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. * On 3 November 2020,

by-elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

were conducted in the constituencies of all the resigning members to fill the vacant seats.

List of MLAs who resigned

Outcome

A new

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

was formed by

of the

2020_Madhya_Pradesh_Legislative_Assembly_by-election_results

Due to these resignations, by-elections needed to be held for all these constituencies. The 2020 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly by-elections were carried out in November 2020. 18 of the 25 MLAs involved in the crises, won their seats back as BJP candidates and the BJP government retained their majority in the Legislative Assembly.

References

{{reflist Political crises in India 2020 in Indian politics Politics of Madhya Pradesh 2020s in Madhya Pradesh

Timeline

Later events

List of MLAs who resigned

Outcome

See also

References