Congress releases first list of names for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh- NSP NEWS

Congress MLA Phool Singh Baraiya. File.
| Photo Credit: A.M. FARUQUI

Three sitting MLAs feature in the Congress’ list of candidates in Madhya Pradesh. The party has now released the names of its candidates for 10 Lok Sabha seats. 

The party’s first list for M.P. saw only two names retained. Eight new faces have been fielded. The Congress has fielded candidates for four Scheduled Tribe (ST) and three Scheduled Caste (SC) reserved seats so far. 

The contest in Madhya Pradesh is now clear for eight seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had on March 2 announced 24 candidates in the State. 

Headline grabber

The party has fielded prominent Dalit leader and Bhander MLA Phool Singh Baraiya from Gwalior-Chambal belt’s Bhind (SC) Lok Sabha constituency. Mr. Baraiya began his political journey with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and has been its State president in past. He, however, quit the BSP in 2003 and formed his own party. He had joined the Congress in 2019 ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Mr. Baraiya will face sitting MP and BJP candidate Sandhya Rai. 

Mr. Baraiya often makes headlines in the State with his statements. In December, after last year’s Assembly polls, he had applied black ink on his face in front of the Governor’s House in Bhopal to fulfil his pledge to do so if the BJP won more than 50 seats in the elections.

Satna Lok Sabha seat is expected to witness an interesting contest as the Congress has fielded MLA Siddharth Kushwaha against BJP’s sitting MP Ganesh Singh. In last year’s Assembly elections, when the BJP fielded various MPs including Mr. Singh from Satna Assembly constituency, Mr. Kushwaha defeated him by over 4,000 votes. The two will come face to face again in the Lok Sabha polls. 

The Congress has also fielded former State president of Adivasi Congress and sitting Dindori MLA Omkar Singh Markam from Mandla (ST) seat. He faces Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste. Mr. Kulaste lost the November Assembly polls from Niwas Assembly seat, which also falls under Mandla parliamentary seat.

Nath retained

The party has retained its only Lok Sabha member from the State, Nakul Nath, fielding him from Chhindwara, the bastion of his father and former State CM Kamal Nath. The BJP is yet to declare its candidate. 

Apart from Mr. Nakul Nath, the party has only retained one candidate in its first list for the State — Ramu Team from Betul (ST) who lost to BJP’s Durga Das Uikey in 2019. The two will face each other again for the seat as the BJP has retained Mr. Uikey as its candidate. 

The Congress has also fielded former State Government minister Kamleshwar Patel from Sidhi against BJP candidate Rajesh Mishra; Pankaj Ahirwar has been fielded from Tikamgarh (SC) against Union Minister Virendra Kumar Khatik.

Mr. Patel lost the last Assembly election from Sidhi Lok Sabha’s Sihawal Assembly segment. 

Other candidates include Rajendra Malviya from Dewas (SC) against BJP’s sitting MP Mahendra Singh Solanki; Porlal Kharte from Khargone (ST) against sitting BJP MP Gajendra Patel; and Radheshyam Muvel from Dhar (ST) seat where the BJP has not yet fielded its candidate.