Singh and other Congress leaders took membership of the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and its MP unit president VD Sharma at the state party headquarters in Bhopal, a party spokesman said.

The Congress and AAP held a protest here and a police complaint was also filed on behalf of their joint mayoral candidate and AAP councillor Kuldeep Kumar against the presiding officer, accusing him of tampering with ballot papers in the Tuesday election to favour the BJP which retained all three seats.

The alleged tampering led to the declaration of eight votes as invalid, sparking outrage and claims of a threat to democracy.