A mere 3.21 per cent jump in its vote share over the 1998 elections coupled with a steep fall in Congress' share gave the Bharatiya Janata Party a three-fourth majority in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly in the just-concluded polls.

Though the number of seats won by the saffron party more than doubled to 173 from 83 last time. In percentage terms the upswing was from 39.28 per cent to 42.49 per cent.

The marginal increase translated into a huge tally because of the steep fall in the vote share of the Congress.

The Congress which had secured 40.59 per cent votes in 1998 assembly polls, got only 31.60 per cent this time resulting in its seats plummeting to 38, its worst-ever debacle in the state.

The Congress decimation seemed to have been caused by about two per cent grabbed by political parties clubbed as the third force.

Even independent candidates, who numbered 878, captured a vote share of 7.70 per cent.

It now appears that the much talked about tacit understanding between Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party could have caused more damage to Congress instead of helping it.