BHOPAL: Twelve days after releasing its fourth list of 57 candidates, the ruling BJP came out with its fifth list of 92 candidates for the November 17 Madhya Pradesh assembly polls. Close to 30, sitting MLAs (29 to be precise), including three ministers, were denied tickets.
After the 92 candidate-strong list, released two days after Congress’s second list of 88 candidates), BJP has to name candidates for two seats – Guna and Vidisha.
The Congress has yet to name a candidate for the Amla seat of Betul district. In the most interesting development, the Hoshangabad seat of Narmadapuram district will see the battle between two brothers – two-times former BJP MLA Girija Shankar Sharma (who is now the Congress candidate) and five times sitting MLA and ex-Vidhan Sabha Speaker Sitasaran Sharma as BJP candidate.
At least 29 sitting MLAs, including three ministers – Jyotiraditya Scindia-loyalist OPS Bhadoria, Scindia’s aunt Yashodhara Raje Scindia (who has already opted out of the polls on health grounds) and septuagenarian minister Gaurishankar Bisen – have been dropped.
Among the three ministers who’ve not been named in the list, the seven times sitting MLA Gourishankar Bisen has been replaced by his daughter Mausam Bisen from Balaghat seat, Yashodhara Raje Scindia has been replaced by her loyalist ex-MLA Devendra Jain from Shivpuri seat, while Jyotiraditya Scindia-loyalist minister OPS Bhadoria has been replaced by 2018 polls loser Rakesh Shukla from Mehgaon (Bhind).
Speculation about Scindia himself being among the candidates in the fifth list, however, were put to rest, while three of his loyalist ministers, among them Mahendra Singh Sisodiya, Brijendra Singh Yadav and Suresh Rathkheda, managed to get BJP tickets, despite reportedly facing strong anti-incumbency in their constituencies of Gwalior-Chambal region.Two other ministers – Usha Thakur and Inder Singh Parmar – both having strong RSS backing – too have been repeated from Mhow and Shujalpur seats, despite opposition by local BJP leadership against them.
The 29 sitting MLAs, who have been dropped, include five-times sitting MLA from Ujjain-North seat Paras Jain, third-time sitting MLA from Khandwa seat Devendra Verma, third-time sitting MLA from Singrauli seat Ramlalu Vaishya, first-time MLA from Bhind seat Sanjeev Singh (he switched over from BSP to BJP last year and his college’s name had cropped in the alleged irregularities in Patwari exam) and party’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya’s first time MLA son Akash Vijayvargiya from Indore-3 seat. Three septuagenarians, including former minister Maya Singh (distant relative of Scindia family), former finance minister and six-time former MLA Jayant Malaiya (who lost 2018 polls by close margin) and former Vidhan Sabha speaker Sitasaran Sharma too have been named in the list.