Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Though Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is advocating justice for OBCs through a nationwide caste census, the party has fielded only 30 per cent OBC candidates in the 29 assembly constituencies of Ujjain Division.
Though BJP had an OBC CM in Madhya Pradesh way back in 2003 when Uma Bharti stormed into power, it has given only 20 per cent of the seats to candidates from that category in the division.
More significantly, none of the rival parties has fielded a female OBC candidate in the division.
Out of 29 seats of Ujjain Division, there are 9 reserved seats (almost 30 per cent) including 6 seats for SC viz Agar, Sonkatch, Tarana, Ghattia, Alot and Malhargarh and 3 for ST viz Sailana, Bagli and Ratlam Rural. The remaining 20 seats are unreserved.
For the 2023 election, the Congress party has fielded 9 OBC candidates. They are Bheru Singh Bapu from Susner (Agar-Malwa district), Hukum Singh Karada from Shajapur, Kunal Chaudhary from Kalapipal (Shajapur district), Dilip Singh Gurjar from Nagda-Khachrod, Chetan Yadav from Ujjain South (Ujjain district), Pradeep Chaudhary from Dewas (Dewas district), Rakesh Patidar from Suwasra (Mandsaur district), Umrao Singh Gurjar from Neemuch and Samundar Patel from Jawad (Neemuch district). Out of the 9 OBC candidates in the division, three, namely Hukum Singh Karada, Kunal Chaudhary and Dilip Singh Gurjar are sitting MLAs and four namely Bheru Singh, Chetan Yadav, Pradeep Chaudhary and Rakesh Patidar are new faces. Rest two candidates Umrao Singh Gurjar and Samundar Patel had lost the previous election. No OBC woman has found a place on the list.
So far as BJP is concerned, it has fielded 6 OBC (20 per cent) candidates this time. They include Arun Bimawad from Shajapur and Ghanshyam Chandrawanshi from Kalapipal (Shajapur district), Manoj Chaudhary from Hatpipliya (Dewas district), Mohan Yadav from Ujjain South and Bahadur Singh Chouhan from Mahidpur (Ujjain district), Hardeep Singh Dang from Suwasra (Mandsaur district). Bhimawad is a former MLA while Chandrawanshi is a new face. Chaudhary, Yadav, Chouhan and Dang are sitting MLAs. Yadav and Dang are cabinet ministers. In 2018 Dang emerged victorious from Congress but later joined the BJP.
Out of 29 seats, there would be a direct fight between Congress and BJP OBC candidates in four constituencies which include Shajapur where Hukum Singh Karada will take on Arun Bhimawad, Kalapipal where Kunal Chaudhary will take on Ghanshyam Chandrawanshi, Ujjain South where Chetan Yadav will take on Mohan Yadav and Suwasra where Rakesh Patidar will take on Hardeep Singh Dang.
The rest 7 OBC candidates of these parties namely Bheru Singh Bapu will take on Rana Vikram Singh in Susner, Dilip Singh Gujar will take on Tejbahadur Singh Chouhan in Nagda-Khachrod, Pradeep Chaudhary will take on Gayatriraje Puar in Dewas, Umrao Singh Gurjar will take on Dilip Singh Parihar in Neemuch, Samundar Patel will take on Omprakash Sakhlecha in Jawad, Manoj Chaurhary will take on Rajveer Singh Baghel in Hatpipliya and Bahadur Singh Chauhan will take on Dinesh Jain Boss in Mahidpur (all upper caste candidates).
 (1).jpg)