Shruti Suman
In the context of the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Elections, the Congress party, on Thursday night, unveiled its second list of 85 candidates for the state’s assembly polls. This list included replacements for three candidates who were previously announced. With this announcement, the Congress has now declared all but one of its candidates for the upcoming assembly elections, which are scheduled for November 17.
In the Datia assembly constituency, the Congress decided to replace its candidate, nominating Rajendra Bharti in place of Avadesh Nayak. Bharti will compete against the BJP candidate and Home Minister, Narottam Mishra. Notably, Bharti, a former MLA, narrowly lost in the last election. Nayak’s nomination in Datia had faced opposition from a section of party members and leaders, leading to his replacement by the party leadership.
The Congress also made changes to its candidate in the Pichhore assembly seat, with Arvind Singh Lodhi taking the place of Shailendra Singh. Additionally, Narmada Prasad Prajapati was fielded as the candidate in place of Shekhar Chaudhary for the Gotegaon-SC assembly constituency.
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From the Gwalior assembly seat, a stronghold of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Congress selected Sunil Sharma as its candidate. Sharma had previously contested unsuccessfully in a bypoll against the sitting MLA and minister Pradhuman Singh Tomar, a known Scindia loyalist who switched to the BJP after the last assembly polls.
Earlier, the Congress had released its first list for the state polls, which included the names of 144 party candidates. The list featured senior party leader Kamal Nath from the Chhindwara seat, while former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh’s son, Jaivardhan Singh, was nominated for Raghogath. Actor Vikram Mastal, known for his role in ‘Ramayan,’ was chosen to contest against Chouhan in the Budhni constituency.
In the 2018 assembly elections, the Congress had won 114 seats, with the BJP securing 109. However, the Congress government fell when many MLAs, led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who later joined the BJP and became a Union minister, switched sides. The BJP subsequently returned to power in March 2020, with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the Chief Minister, and their current strength in the assembly is 127.
