BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh is home to the highest tribal population in the country, yet the scheduled tribes seem to be least enthusiastic when it comes to contesting November 17 assembly elections. As many as 3,832 candidates filed nominations till October 30 – the last date of filing nominations – for the 230 seats in the state, according to the Election Commission statistics.
An analysis reveals that 29 seats showed the lowest response when it came to filing nominations – spanning between six and 10 candidates on each of these seats. Of those 29 seats, 18 (62%) are reserved for ST candidates. These 18 seats form 38% of the 47 seats, which are reserved for ST candidates and are being hotly pursued by all major political parties.
The Gandhwani-ST seat of Bhil and Bhilala tribe-dominated Dhar district has emerged as that seat where the lowest count of individuals – merely six – had filed nominations till October 30. Interestingly, the Congress firebrand tribal leader and ex-MP minister Umang Singhar won the seat in the last three polls. A few months back, Singhar had raised the demand for a tribal CM in the state.
While the Gandhwani-ST seat remains with lowest number of candidates aspiring to become members of the Vidhan Sabha, three other seats of the same tribal-dominated Dhar district (Dhar neighbours state’s most populated and India’s cleanest city Indore) feature among other seats with lowest number of aspiring candidates. While the Dharampuri-ST and Sardarpur-ST seats of Dhar district saw just seven candidates filing nominations, even the unreserved Badnawar seat of the same western MP district, currently represented by the Jyotiraditya Scindia-loyalist minister Rajyavardhan Singh Dattigaon, too, reported only 10 candidates submitting their nominations.
The other ST reserved seats, which have seen minimum number of nominations include Bagli-ST and Bhikhangaon-ST (each saw seven individuals submitting their nominations), Barwani-ST, Alirajpur-ST, Niwas-ST (from where six-time BJP MP and Union minister Faggan Singh Kulasate is in fray) and Beohari-ST, all reporting nominations by eight candidates each. In Ratlam Rural-ST, Rajpur-ST (held currently by ex-home minister and third-time Congress MLA Bala Bachchan), Bhagwanpura-ST, Timarni-ST, Shahpura-ST seats and Anuppur-ST (held by turncoat politician and MP minister Bisahulal Singh), nine aspiring lawmakers have filed nomination forms with the poll authorities. A total of 10 candidates have filed nominations from Pandhana-ST and Jaisinghnagar-ST seats of western and eastern MP, respectively.
Worry over rebels remains
With a day left for withdrawal of nominations for November 17 polls, rebellion continued to be a major worry for both the ruling BJP and the Congress. The BJP has a task on its hands to convince at least 33 rebels (who’ve filed nominations as independents), while Congress will have to persuade at least 35 candidates to drop out of poll race before Thursday.