BHOPAL: The ruling BJP released on Monday its second list of 17 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh elections even as the suspense continued over the fate of ex-CM Babulal Gaur and former state minister Sartaj Singh. In the second list, the BJP denied tickets to five MLAs — Mukesh Pandhya, Pandit Singh Dhurve, Chandrashekhar Deshmukh, Veersingh Panwar and Jaswantsingh Hada.
Over 40 sitting MLAs have not got poll tickets, so far. In the first list of 176 candidates released on November 1, the BJP denied tickets to around three dozen sitting legislators. Now, just 37 candidates remain to be finalised. The opposition Congress has declared 171 candidates, so far.
Lok Sabha member from Morena Anoop Mishra, the nephew of ex-PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, figured in the BJP’s Monday list. He is the third Lok Sabha member to have been fielded by BJP in the Assembly poll, after Khajuraho MP Nagendra Singh and Dewas MP Manohar Untwal. Others who figured in the list include Petlawad MLA Nirmala Bhuria, and minister of state for medical education Sharad Jain.
Meanwhile, the suspense continues over the nine seats of Indore. The fate of two stalwarts, Babulal Gaur (Govindpura-Bhopal) and Sartaj Singh (Seoni-Malwa), also hangs in balance. Political watchers are keenly watching developments on Govindpura seat, as resentment is brewing among Gaur’s supporters over the delay in announcing the name. While Gaur and his daughter-in-law Krishna Gaur have ruled out joining the Congress if they are denied poll ticket, either of them could contest the poll as an Independent candidate.
Former union minister Sartaj Singh questioned the delay in announcing candidates for both Seoni Malwa and Govindpura seats. “Both these seats are among the safest seats for the party, and they should have figured in the first list of candidates itself.” As per sources close to Singh, he will contest as n Independent if denied ticket from Seoni-Malwa. Both Singh and Gaur were dropped from the state’s Cabinet in June 2016 owing to their age.