Former minister Tulsiram Silawat had represented Sanwer assembly seat four times on Congress ticket, but this time he is trying his luck from BJP. Will Sanwer which is seeing by-polls after 2007 resend Silawat to the assembly or elect Congress candidate Premchand Guddu who represented the constituency from 1998 to 2003.
It will be interesting to see whether the voters go for party or the candidate in this by-election. Silawat, after years of association with Congress had shifted his loyalty to BJP, while Guddu returned to the Congress, within two years of his leaving the party and joining the BJP.
Former MP from Ujjain, Premchand Guddu, had represented Sanwer seat in Assembly while he was in Congress. He had left Congress and joined BJP in 2018, however, this March he returned to Congress fold and now pitted against Silawat.
Of the 14 elections-including bypoll- , Congress had been victorious seven times, while the seat was represented by BJP leader four times. Bhartiya Jan Sangh and Janta Party won the seat one time each.
While voters sent Silawat four times to represent them, BJP leader Prakash Sonkar has won the seat thrice. In 2013 BJP candidate Rajesh Sonkar had won the election.
Sanwer is a state Assembly/Vidhan Sabha constituency of the state and is part of Indore Lok Sabha/Parliamentary constituency. Sanwer falls in Indore district and Malwa North region of Madhya Pradesh. It is categorised as a rural seat.
Tulsi Silawat had won the by- election in 2007 and again elected member of the Assembly for the third time in the year 2008 with a margin of 3,417 votes, registering 48.87% of the total votes polled.
In 2013, Rajesh Sonkar of BJP won the seat by a margin of 17,583 votes defeating Silawat. Rajesh Sonkar secured 52.92 percent of the total votes polled. In the 2018 elections, Silawat defeated Sonkar. The constituency had recorded a voter turnout of 80.43 per cent.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP led in the Sanwer Assembly segment of the Indore Parliamentary/Lok Sabha constituency.
Year- Member- Political Party
1962- Sajjan Singh Vishnar- Indian National Congress
1967- BabuLal Rathore- Bharatiya Jan Sangh
1972- Radhakishan Malviya- Indian National Congress
1977- Arjun Singh Dharu- Janata Party
1980- Prakash Sonkar- Bharatiya Janata Party
1985- Tulsiram Silawat- Indian National Congress
1990- Prakash Sonkar- Bharatiya Janata Party
1993- Prakash Sonkar- Bharatiya Janata Party
1998- Premchand Guddu- Indian National Congress
2003- Prakash Sonkar- Bharatiya Janata Party
2008- Tulsiram Silawat- Indian National Congress
2013- Rajesh Sonkar- Bharatiya Janata Party
2018- Tulsiram Silawat- Indian National Congress
2020- TBA- TBA