Madhya Pradesh was tipped to be one of the states where the BJP was hoping to use Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “popularity” to bounce back from its loss in the Assembly elections last year.

But data and inputs from the ground indicate that Madhya Pradesh isn’t heading for a BJP sweep like the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, in which the party won 27 out of 29 seats with only senior Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia surviving the wave. This time, the Congress seems all set to improve its tally from the two seats it won last time due to a number of factors.