It is only the caste that matters in Bundelkhand in Lok Sabha election. The 32 Vidhan Sabha seats of five districts that come under Bundelkhand region are Sagar, Damoh, Tikamgarh, Panna and Chattarpur. The geography of LS constituencies crosses borders of districts and covers Vidhan Sabha constituencies of other districts also. Four Lok Sabha seats that come under the region are Sagar, Damoh, Tikamgarh and Khajuraho.
In last year’s Vidhan Sabha elections, Bhartiya Janta Party had outstaged Congress party. Ideologies of other parties also prevail. The borders of districts are connected with Uttar Pradesh where impact of BSP and Samajwadi Party is evident. All the four seats were captured by BJP in 2014 election and party is trying to capture it again in present election. The BJP has changed two faces in election from Khajuraho. The party has given ticket to new face VD Sharma.
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Rajbahadur Singh has been fielded from Sagar. Old warrior Prahlad Patel from Damoh and Dr Virendra Khatik from Tikamgarh have been given tickets. The Congress party has tried to bring fresh faces in the election. From Tikamgarh, Kiran Ahirwar had been given the ticket. From Damoh Pratap Singh Lodhi, from Sagar former minister Prabhu Singh Thakur and from Khajuraho Kavita Singh, wife of MLA Vikarm Singh, have been given tickets.
SAGAR
The whole ticket distribution is based on caste equations. Sagar is an example. Both BJP and Congress candidates are Dangi Thakurs, who form deciding votes. Brahmin, Jain, OBC and SC/ST votes are also important. Recently, Jain community called a meeting and asked their community member to contest election because BJP did not give ticket to their community member. Mukesh Jain had filed nomination as an independent candidate. He is BJP member and close to union minister Uma Bharti.
DAMOH
BJP candidate Parhlad Singh Patel hails from Narsinghpur and Congress candidate Pratap Singh Lodhi belongs to Damoh. Prahlad is known for firebrand image while Pratap Singh is known for grassroot working. He was district panchayat member.
TIKAMGARH
Tikamgarh is reserved for Schedule Caste. Sitting MP Dr Virendra Khatik is the resident of Sagar. Before delimitation, he was MP from Sagar LS seat. But this time, BJP workers opposed ticket of Dr Khatik. The Congress has given ticket to a nonpolitical face Kiran Ahirwar. The Ahirwar community is in good number in the constituency and Khatik community is less in numbers.
KHAJURAHO
It has become hot seat. Brahmin candidate VD Sharma who is the outsider (hails from Morena) faces Congress candidate Kavita Singh. The sitting MP Nagendra Singh had contested assembly election and became MLA, the party had to decide the new candidate from seat and they chose Sharma. Kavita Singh is royal face and commands respect in the region. The numbers of Rajput voters are equal to Brahmins. Both will decide destiny of contestants.
