Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Political parties have experimented with fielding well-known candidates from high-profile constituencies of senior leaders. Nevertheless, the BJP and the Congress are trying to avoid this experiment this time.
There are demands from both the parties that local candidates should be fielded from high-profile constituencies. The Congress pitted former state party president Arun Yadav against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni.
The party expected that Yadav would be able to confine Chouhan to Budhni. Although Yadav was Congress’s high-profile candidate yet Chouhan did not campaign in his constituency. The Chief Minister defeated Yadav by a margin of 59,000 votes.
Now, the Congress is planning to field former legislator Rajkumar Patel from Budhni. Patel who won assembly election twice from this constituency is well-connected with this area. Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh is also in favour of giving a ticket to Patel from Budhni.
On the other hand, the BJP plans to field Vivek Sahu aka Bunty from Chhindwara against MPCC president Kamal Nath. Sahu contested against Nath in the previous by-poll.
There were talks about fielding a high-profile candidate from Chhindwara, but BJP workers said some local candidate should be given a ticket. The BJP is planning to pit Hirendra Singh, who switched over to the BJP from the Congress, against former minister Jaiwardhan Singh from Raghogarh.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan fought election against his former counterpart Digvijaya Singh in 2003. Similarly, the party may field a local candidate against leader of opposition Govind Singh from Lahar. The Congress is planning to field Awdhesh Nayak, who has defected to the party from the BJP, against Home Minister Narottam Mishra.
The party may pit Chandrabhusan Singh Bundela aka Guddu Raja against Urban Development Minister Bhupendra Singh. Bundela switched over from the BSP to the Congress.
The BJP has begun to give tickets to local candidates against the Congress’s high-profile leader Jitu Patwari from Rau constituency. Madhu Verma, who contested against Congress candidate last time, has been given ticket again.
