Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The third force flexing its muscles after the current election may not be as strong as they appear to be. There are possibilities that the third parties may be nowhere after the results are out as happened in the 2013 and 2018 assembly elections. Apart from the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi Party, there are many rebels of the BJP and the Congress contesting the election as independents. Most of them may only cut the votes of other parties.
BSP and independent candidates may influence the outcome of many seats, but their chances of winning many seats are dim. After Chhattisgarh was separated from Madhya Pradesh in 2003, the other parties won 14 seats, and the SP got seven.
They won 16 seats in 2008 when BSP got seven and Uma Bharti’s political outfit, Janshakti, which contested an election for the first time, won five. On the other hand, in 2013, these parties won only seven seats. The BSP got only four and the SP could not even open its account.
Because in all these elections the BJP got a clear majority, these parties had no role in the government formation. In the 2018 election, other parties won seven seats. The BSP got two, the SP one and the independents four. The importance of these parties increased, since the Congress got two seats less than the majority mark. Nevertheless, the chances of other parties, winning many seats and playing an important in government formation, look bleak.
Strong in ten seats
Among the independent candidates Shekhar Choudhary (Gotegaon), Antar Singh Darbar (Mhow) and Harshwardhan Singh Chouhan (Burhanpur) look strong. Among the BSP candidates Rakesh Singh (Morena), VD Pandey (Sirmaur), Shiva Chaturvedi (Satna), Yadvendra Singh (Nagod), Kuldeep Sikarwar (Sumawali) and Chandra Pratap Verma (Singrauli) appear to be giving tough fight to their opponents. Likewise Kankar Munjare of Gondwana Gantantra Party from Paraswada and Narayan Tripathi from Vindhya Vikas Party from Maihar are giving a tough time to their rivals. AIMIM candidate from Burhanpur Nafis Khan, SP’s Seema Sengar from Deotalab, SP Daulat Tiwari from Maharajpur, AAP’s Rani Agarwal from Singrauli and Bhagwati Choure (independent) from Narmadapuram are not in a position to win the election.
 (1).jpg)