Bhopal:

The Congress on Saturday announced the candidates for the three remaining Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, fielding two former legislators.

With the announcement of its nominees from Khandwa, Gwalior and Morena, the Congress has now fielded candidates in 28 of the 29 Lok Sabha constituencies. One seat – Khajuraho – has been given to the Samajwadi Party (SP) under the INDIA bloc seat-sharing arrangement.

The Congress has fielded former MLA Praveen Pathak against BJP’s Bharat Singh Kushwaha from Gwalior. Pathak had been elected on a Congress ticket from Gwalior South assembly seat in 2018 but faced defeat in 2023.

Ex-legislator Satyapal Singh Sikarwar has been nominated from Morena and will face off with BJP’s Shivmangal Singh Tomar.

This Lok Sabha seat was won by BJP’s Narendra Singh Tomar in 2019, but he was elected as an MLA last year and later made the speaker of the Madhya Pradesh assembly.

Sikarwar was elected as MLA from the Sumawali assembly seat in 2013 on a BJP ticket. His father had also won the same assembly seat in 2003. Sikarwar was expelled from the saffron outfit in 2020 for alleged anti-party activities, following which he joined the Congress.

Congress has fielded Narendra Patel from Khandwa amid speculations that former union minister Arun Yadav could be the candidate from there.

Patel had contested from Badwah in the 2023 assembly polls and lost to BJP’s Sachin Birla by 5,499 votes. The BJP has fielded sitting MP Gyaneshwar Patil from Khandwa LS seat.

Gwalior and Morena will go to polls in the third phase on May 7, while voting in Khandwa will be held in the fourth phase on May 13. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Indore:

National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday took a jibe at the Congress party over replacing the candidates in four assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh saying ‘saudebaazi’ is happening daily in the Congress.

The Congress party on Wednesday issued a revised list in which the candidates for four assembly constituencies have been replaced which include Sumawali seat in Morena district, Pipariya (Scheduled Caste) seat in Narmadapuram district, Badnagar seat in Ujjain district and Jaora seat in Ratlam district.

“In Congress, ‘saudebaazi’ is happening daily. In tickets (for upcoming elections), they are doing ‘saudebaazi’. They are also afraid of who can lose the election and who can win, that’s why they are changing the ticket. Overall there is instability in Congress and Congress people are saying that within the party there is corruption,” Vijayvargiya said.

Earlier, National Spokesperson of Congress party Surendra Rajput has reacted over replacement of the candidates on four assembly constituencies saying they heard the voice of party workers and people, so replaced the candidates.

Mr Rajput said, “It is a sign of living democracy. Democracy is alive in the Congress party. It is not like the Bharatiya Janata Party, once the ticket is announced, it is final. We listen to the conscience of the party workers and our tickets are not sold. If our tickets had been sold like the BJP, we would not have had the courage to change our tickets. We heard the voices of the workers and the people of the area, so we changed four tickets.”

Based on the voice of the people in the said constituencies, the party has changed the tickets with the support of the present candidate, he added.

Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to undergo polls on November 17 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Congress on Sunday released the first list of 144 candidates for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, fielding state unit president and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath from Chhindwara.

The list includes prominent names such as former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Former Minister of Higher Education of Madhya Pradesh Jitu Patwari, Jaivardhan Singh, Member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly Vijayalakshmi Sadho and Member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly Lakshman Singh.

Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan Singh has been fielded from the Raghigath seat.

The announcement came after the party’s Central Election Committee met to finalise candidates at the AICC office in the national capital.

Notably, the Kamal Nath government collapsed in March 2021 when 22 sitting Congress MLAs resigned under the leadership of Jyotiraditya Scindia and joined the BJP.

Apart from Madhya Pradesh, the party has also declared candidates for 30 seats in Chhattisgarh and 55 in Telangana.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already announced candidates for 136 out of 230 assembly constituencies in the state.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will contest from his traditional Budhni seat.

The Congress is bidding to wrest power from the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, with Rahul Gandhi and his sister and the party’s national general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, already holding a clutch of rallies in the state.

Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to undergo assembly polls on November 17. Through the polls, the state will elect legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies. The election will be conducted in one phase in the state and the counting will take place on December 3.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)