Even as the last day of filing nominations are drawing close, the BJP is yet to announce its candidates for 38 seats for assembly elections. After several rounds of meetings, no decision could be arrived about ticket distribution on these contentious seats.
The decision, has now been left up to the central leadership to finaliae the candidates. Despite discussion with Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya over ticket distribution on seats of Indore, no solution has come up yet.
CM Chouhan is holding direct talks on Govindpura seat of Bhopal and Seoni Malwa seat of Hoshangabad. Attempts are being made to announce party candidates on these seats after the getting consent of ex- CM Babulal Gaur and ex-minister Sartaj Singh. Chouhan and Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar are also deliberating on Ambaha and Dimni seats of Morena district and Bhind and Mehgaon seats of Bhind district.
Tomar is keen on giving ticket to sitting MLA Narendra Singh Kushwaha from Bhind. CM intends to give ticket to ex-minister Rakesh Chaudhary from this seat. Choudhary’s brother, Mukesh Chaturvedi is MLA from Mehgaon. Any decision on Mehgaon seat will be taken after decision on Bhind seat. Tomar wants Rakesh Shukla to be given ticket from this seat.
Minister Narottam Mishra was asked for his views on ticket on Dabra and Bhander seats. BJP lacks candidate to field from Rajnagar seat. Former minister Ramkrishna Kusumaria was given ticket from the constituency in last Assembly polls. Kusumaria wants to contest elections this time from Patharia and that is why both the seats are stuck.
Minister Kusum Mehadale in Panna is adopting a rebellious attitude. The party is considering fielding a new candidate from this seat. Chouhan would decide on tickets from Shamshabad and Bhopal North. Congress has strong candidates on Shajapur, Kalapipal and Sonkatch seats. BJP is looking to field candidates on these seats keeping caste considerations.
Earlier, the party had announced its candidate from Ghattia seat.The announcement of ticket was put on hold with former MP Premchand Guddu quitting Congress and joining the BJP. Jitendra Gehlot, son of Union minister Thawarchand Gehlot may be given ticket from Ghattia seat while Guddu may be given ticket from Alot. A new candidate would be announced on Rajpur seat with the passing away of Devisingh Patel. Nomination forms would be submitted by November 9 and the BJP is trying to make sure to finalise all its candidates by November 8.
