By Express News Service
BHOPAL: Ruling BJP outsmarted the opposition Congress on Thursday, by releasing the first list of 39 candidates for the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, which are still around three months away.
The saffron party released the list for the 39 seats (all were lost in 2018 assembly polls) just a day after the meeting of its central election committee in Delhi, which was attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The list came around a month and a half before the model code of conduct is enforced in the state — which is a first-of-kind practice in the BJP.
Party insiders in Bhopal feel that by declaring the candidates on the 39 seats (all lost in 2018), the party has first tried to give candidates on the same seats ample time to prepare for the poll battle. This exercise is also being seen as an experiment of sorts to gauge the discontent caused by the declaration of candidates on those seats, which are being counted among the most challenging 100-odd seats out of the total 230 assembly seats.
Importantly, with the Congress planning to first finalize its candidates on the 66 weakest seats (all BJP citadels), the BJP has tried to outsmart the Congress on those seats, which were lost by the ruling party in 2018.
The 39 candidates declared on Thursday, include at least 13 new faces (who haven’t contested the Vidhan Sabha polls ever), 21 ex-MLAs, and five candidates, who in the past had lost the Vidhan Sabha polls from the same seats, where they’ve been fielded now.
The list includes six former ministers, including Aidal Singh Kansana, Lalita Yadav, Anchal Sonkar, Nanabhau Mohod, Om Prakash Dhurve and Lal Singh Arya.
Out of the 39 seats, 21 seats are reserved for scheduled caste or scheduled tribe candidates. Maximum 11 candidates are for the 66-seats strong Malwa-Nimar region, 12 for Mahakoshal region, six for Gwalior-Chambal, five for Bundelkhand, four for central MP and one for Vindhya region. While 13 candidates are tribals, 8 hail from the scheduled caste category, 13 from the OBC category, and five from the general category.
Just four in the first list, including ex-minister Lalita Yadav, former MLA Nirmala Bhuria, fresh face Priyanka Meena (wife of Indian Revenue Service officer) and Sarla Vijendra Rawat are female candidates.
The party has also reposed faith in two politicians who had been in controversy in the past, including ex-MLA Dhruv Narayan Singh (whose name had once figured in the 2011 RTI activist Shehla Masood murder case, but CBI later gave him clean cheat in the want of incriminating evidence) and former CM Uma Bharti’s distant relative Pritam Lodhi (who was expelled in September 2022 for objectionable remarks about Brahmins but re-inducted in the party in March 2023).
The 39-strong list has also its share of sons and relatives of present and former MLAs/politicians, including Sarla Vijendra Rawat (the daughter-in-law of former MLA Meharban Singh Rawat), Virendra Singh Lambardar (son of former MP and MLA Shivraj Singh Lodhi), Kamakhya Pratap Singh (son of former MLA Manvendra Singh ‘Bhawar Raja’), Neeraj Thakur (son of former MLA Pratibha Singh), Dhruv Narayan Singh (son of former CM Govind Narayan Singh and brother of ex-minister Harsh Singh).
Among the 39 candidates, a first-time candidate from Banda seat of Sagar district Virendra Singh Lambardar is a government school teacher, while fresh face Prakash Uikey from Pandhurna-ST seat of Chhindwara is a former judge.
Just one of the 22 former Congress MLAs (who had pulled down the BJP government in March 2020) Aidal Singh Kansana’s name figures in this list, while Jyotiaditya Scindia-loyalist ex-Congress MLA Ranveer Jatav has failed to get BJP ticket from Gohah-SC seat of Bhind district, which he had won in 2018 polls on Congress ticket.
BHOPAL: Ruling BJP outsmarted the opposition Congress on Thursday, by releasing the first list of 39 candidates for the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, which are still around three months away.
The saffron party released the list for the 39 seats (all were lost in 2018 assembly polls) just a day after the meeting of its central election committee in Delhi, which was attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The list came around a month and a half before the model code of conduct is enforced in the state — which is a first-of-kind practice in the BJP.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Party insiders in Bhopal feel that by declaring the candidates on the 39 seats (all lost in 2018), the party has first tried to give candidates on the same seats ample time to prepare for the poll battle. This exercise is also being seen as an experiment of sorts to gauge the discontent caused by the declaration of candidates on those seats, which are being counted among the most challenging 100-odd seats out of the total 230 assembly seats.
Importantly, with the Congress planning to first finalize its candidates on the 66 weakest seats (all BJP citadels), the BJP has tried to outsmart the Congress on those seats, which were lost by the ruling party in 2018.
The 39 candidates declared on Thursday, include at least 13 new faces (who haven’t contested the Vidhan Sabha polls ever), 21 ex-MLAs, and five candidates, who in the past had lost the Vidhan Sabha polls from the same seats, where they’ve been fielded now.
The list includes six former ministers, including Aidal Singh Kansana, Lalita Yadav, Anchal Sonkar, Nanabhau Mohod, Om Prakash Dhurve and Lal Singh Arya.
Out of the 39 seats, 21 seats are reserved for scheduled caste or scheduled tribe candidates. Maximum 11 candidates are for the 66-seats strong Malwa-Nimar region, 12 for Mahakoshal region, six for Gwalior-Chambal, five for Bundelkhand, four for central MP and one for Vindhya region. While 13 candidates are tribals, 8 hail from the scheduled caste category, 13 from the OBC category, and five from the general category.
Just four in the first list, including ex-minister Lalita Yadav, former MLA Nirmala Bhuria, fresh face Priyanka Meena (wife of Indian Revenue Service officer) and Sarla Vijendra Rawat are female candidates.
The party has also reposed faith in two politicians who had been in controversy in the past, including ex-MLA Dhruv Narayan Singh (whose name had once figured in the 2011 RTI activist Shehla Masood murder case, but CBI later gave him clean cheat in the want of incriminating evidence) and former CM Uma Bharti’s distant relative Pritam Lodhi (who was expelled in September 2022 for objectionable remarks about Brahmins but re-inducted in the party in March 2023).
The 39-strong list has also its share of sons and relatives of present and former MLAs/politicians, including Sarla Vijendra Rawat (the daughter-in-law of former MLA Meharban Singh Rawat), Virendra Singh Lambardar (son of former MP and MLA Shivraj Singh Lodhi), Kamakhya Pratap Singh (son of former MLA Manvendra Singh ‘Bhawar Raja’), Neeraj Thakur (son of former MLA Pratibha Singh), Dhruv Narayan Singh (son of former CM Govind Narayan Singh and brother of ex-minister Harsh Singh).
Among the 39 candidates, a first-time candidate from Banda seat of Sagar district Virendra Singh Lambardar is a government school teacher, while fresh face Prakash Uikey from Pandhurna-ST seat of Chhindwara is a former judge.
Just one of the 22 former Congress MLAs (who had pulled down the BJP government in March 2020) Aidal Singh Kansana’s name figures in this list, while Jyotiaditya Scindia-loyalist ex-Congress MLA Ranveer Jatav has failed to get BJP ticket from Gohah-SC seat of Bhind district, which he had won in 2018 polls on Congress ticket.
