Madhya Pradesh election: Congress names Nath, 143 others in first list

The Congress on Sunday released its first list of 144 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, renominating 69 sitting legislators.

The Congress on Sunday released its first list of 144 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, renominating 69 sitting legislators, including former chief minister Kamal Nath, and fielding actor Vikram Mastal, who played Lord Hanuman in a television serial, against incumbent CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

In 2018, the Congress won 114 of 230 assembly seats and formed a coalition government with the support of smaller parties.

Polling for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly will be held on November 17. Results will be declared on December 3, along with Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram — all of which will also vote in assembly polls on different dates next month.

Mastal, who played the role of Hanuman in Anand Sagar’s 2008 TV serial Ramayan, will contest the elections from Budhni in Sehore district against chief minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Mastal joined the Congress in July this year.

State Congress president and former CM Kamal Nath will be contesting from his home constituency Chhindwara, while the party has also fielded senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan Singh and brother Lakshman Singh from Raghogarh and Chachoura, respectively, in Guna district.

The party has named 69 of its 96 sitting legislators and dropped three MLAs, including former assembly speaker ND Prajapati, while 39 are first-timers. The Congress list also includes 36 those candidates that had lost the 2018 assembly polls or subsequent bypolls in the state.

Of the 144 candidates announced on Sunday, 39 are from the other backward classes (OBCs), 30 from scheduled tribes (ST), 22 from scheduled castes (SC) and six from minority communities, Congress leader Charan Singh Sapra told reporters in Bhopal, adding that 19 women have also got party tickets.

A total of 65 candidates are below the age of 50 while the list also comprised 47 general category candidates, the leader added.

“The Congress has showed trust on its senior leaders and released the list on the auspicious day, marking the beginning of Navratri,” party spokesperson Piyush Babele said. “The Congress has given tickets to 144 candidates on the basis of survey and opinion of all senior state and central leaders.”

Among the prominent candidates featuring in the first list include five-time legislator KP Singh (Shivpuri), Govind Singh (Lahar), Jitu Patwari (Rau), Sajjan Singh Verma (Sonkatch), Ajay Singh Rahul (Churhat), Kamleshwar Patel (Sihawal), and Vijaylaxmi Sadho from (Maheshwar). Turncoats from the BJP — Avadesh Nayak (Datia) and Baijnath Yadav (Kolaras) — also found place in the list.

However, early signs of rebellion came to fore soon after the Congress released its first list. Congress spokesperson Ajay Singh Yadav, who was eyeing a ticket from Kharagpur seat in Tikamgarh, announced his resignation from the party, and so did Gajendra Singh, Sharda Khatik and Vivek Yadav.

“The party ignored OBC candidates in Bundelkhand and gave preference to defeated candidate under pressure,” Ajay Yadav said. “I will not support injustice. So, I am resigning from the post.”

In 2018, the Congress won 114 of the 230 assembly seats and formed a coalition government with the support of smaller parties in the state such as the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and independent MLAs. However, the government collapsed after 15 months when a section of Congress legislators switched to the BJP.

The ruling BJP, which has so far announced the names of its 136 candidates, said the Congress’s first list reflected “nepotism, corruption and crime”.

“The list shows that defeated candidates have been given ticket to save their image. Not just the public, even the Congress high command has no faith in Kamal Nath, which is why no sitting MLAs, except Kamal Nath, has got ticket in Chhindwara district yet,” BJP state chief VD Sharma said.

Political analyst Deepak Tiwari said the Congress list was on expected lines.

“The Congress didn’t take any undue risk by fielding new candidates. The list also shows that only those who are working for the party for years have been given ticket,” Tiwari added.