Among the states with shortlist Smart Cities, Madhya Pradesh tops the list with three cities to its credit.

It is the only state to have three cities in the list, while many other states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh had to contend with two each at best.

Politically important states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal failed to even get one city in the first list of 20 cities shortlisted.

While Indore (11th score, 59.89%) and Bhopal (20th score, 55.47%) were seen as probable contenders for the shortlist of 20 from the 98 cities, it was Jabalpur (7th score, 63.03%) whose inclusion came as a surprise.

Jabalpur- often called sanskaardhaani among cities in MP, does not really have a political godfather unlike Indore that has Speaker Sumitra Mahajan as Lok Sabha MP nor does it have a history of good civic work done by agencies, yet the city made it to the list and with the highest ranking among cities from MP.

“Citizen services being provided through the internet helped Jabalpur make it to the list,” Jabalpur Mayor Swati Godbole told Hindustan Times.