Local issues invariably define local elections. While the Bharatiya Janata Party did well >to win eight of the 10 municipal bodies in the Madhya Pradesh civic elections, this is no popular endorsement of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government’s acts of omission and commission relating to >the Vyapam scam. In its campaign the opposition Congress sought to centre stage the scam, but in the local body elections the voters were seemingly more interested in issues of civic amenities directly concerning them. There was no way they could have assumed that their vote would affect the course of the Vyapam investigations or the fortunes of those who are believed to be involved in the scam. Also, the scale and size of the polls do not allow the results to be read as being indicative of the mood of the people. Thus, for >the BJP to claim that the results of the municipal elections show that the allegations on Vyapam were fabricated is totally unacceptable. The vote for the BJP reflects its strengths at the grass-root level, and its robust organisational structure developed over the years. In contrast to the Congress, a party in disarray in Madhya Pradesh without any one leader in the forefront, the BJP managed the campaign well with Mr. Chouhan as its face. As is not unusual in local body elections, a positive campaign worked better than a negative one.

But the electoral battle with Vyapam as the central issue is yet to come. The success in the municipal bodies is by no means a vindication of the BJP’s stance that none of its top leaders in the State needs to be held accountable for the lapses and cover-ups. There is little doubt that the Chouhan government has lost some of its sheen since the scandal broke. Attempts to trace the roots of the corrupt operation back to the days when the Congress was in power, can offer only limited purchase for the BJP. True, for the Congress, the loss in the municipal polls is a setback in its attempts to raise the Vyapam issue as part of a nationwide campaign. But the BJP and Mr. Chouhan would be mistaken if they think they have seen the last of the Vyapam-centric campaigns. Without the wide network of fraud involved in the employment and admission tests scam being undone, and the offenders ranging from lowly touts to persons in high office being brought to justice, the controversy would not come to rest. If the perception that the BJP and its government are not being sensitive to issues of corruption and accountability continues to gain credence, there would be an electoral price to pay in Madhya Pradesh eventually.