Triangular battle likely among BJP candidate Sudarshan Gupta, Congress candidate Deepu adav and the Congress rebel
Indore: With Congress leader Kamlesh Khandelwal not withdrawing his nomination as independent candidate, the stage is all set for a triangular electoral battle in constituency Indore- I among the Congress rebel, BJP candidate and sitting MLA Sudrashan Gupta and Congress candidate Pradeep ( Deepu) adav.
Though there are seven other candidates, mostly independent, in Indore- I constituency, for BJP and Congress candidate Khandelwal with a cake as poll symbol is a headache as he enjoys a strong support base in the segment.
Being a rebel of Congress, this independent candidate would surely take away a large number of votes from Congress but BJP won’t gain from it. In fact, the saffron party is likely to lose more votes to Khandelwal than Congress.
Indore- I, which has a mix of rural and urban areas, is the most backward Assembly constituency in Indore city. While Congress holds the sway rural and backward areas and the urban areas are stronghold of BJP. Khandelwal has support base in both urban and rural areas. He is quite popular among Congress workers in Banganga and nearby areas where Deepu adav resides.
So, for adav it will be a difficult task to ensure that Khandelwal could not turn his individual popularity into votes. Same is the task for Gupta in urban areas, especially on a belt between Bada Ganpati and Airport where a major chunk of business community live.
Coming from a business family, Khandelwal is likely to take a major share of business community votes, which played a crucial role in victory of Gupta in 2008 elections.
Perhaps this is why BJP appeared to be keener than Congress seeing Khandelwal withdrawing his nomination but to no avail. This constituency is dominated by Brahmin, Vaish, adav and Muslim community people.
Khandelwal who comes from Vaish Samaj also enjoys support in Brahmin and Muslims. Of 2.9 lakh voters in this constituency, nearly 42000 are from Muslim community.
Muslim dominated area Chandan Nagar, which had recently seen communal clashes, also falls in this constituency. Congress is expecting a huge turnout of votes in its favour from Muslim but Khandelwal can dash the expectation.
However, both the parties are certain that Khandewal may impact poll results but he will not be able to win as he is contesting on an unpopular poll symbol – cake.
Khandelwal may not have the cake at the end but he is likely to ensure that the poll battle does not turn out to be a cake- walk for BJP and Congress.
Will Khandelwal be as lucky as wife W ife of Khandelwal, Tanuja Khandelwal had won corporator elections some year back as an independent candidate from a ward in this Assembly constituency.
She had defeated daughter- in- law of Congress seasoned leader Kripashankar Shukla in the elections. Will Khandelwal be able to do magic his wife did? Time will tell.
