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Journalism of Courage
In a first, the BJP on Thursday announced its candidates for 39 seats in Madhya Pradesh and 21 in Chhattisgarh three months before Assembly elections are due in the two states. In both states, the party has included only seats which it lost in the last elections.
In Madhya Pradesh, the list includes 21 reserved constituencies — 13 Scheduled Tribe (ST) seats and eight Scheduled Caste (SC) seats. It also has five women candidates.
In 2018, the Congress had won 114 seats in the 230-member Assembly, while the BJP won 109 seats. The BJP had cited its poor show in the ST seats as one of the reasons.
While the Congress had formed the government with Kamal Nath as Chief Minister, it was ousted from power when Jyotiraditya Scindia switched to the BJP later. In the outgoing House, the BJP has 126 MLAs, while the Congress has 96.
Since returning to power, the BJP has focussed on delivering schemes for STs and women, which, it has said, would be a gamechanger in the upcoming elections.
Asked why the BJP had announced its first list so early, Rajneesh Aggarwal, the state BJP secretary, told The Indian Express: “We have been working towards mobilising our karyakartas since we lost in some challenging seats. We announced the candidates early because there are many hopefuls who emerge in these seats… we announced the list for clarity and to stem infighting. This fight for seats will be tackled early on.”
The BJP in MP has been grappling with infighting between various factions, leading to the direct involvement of Home Minister Amit Shah in the party’s campaign. The party has also been grappling with a “fatigue factor” brought on by the long stint of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who first became chief minister in 2003.
The BJP list includes some former MLAs who lost the last elections or were not fielded then. These include the party’s Scheduled Caste (SC) Morcha chief Lal Singh Arya from Gohad; state party vice-president Lalita Yadav from Chhatarpur; Madhu Verma from Rau; Nirmala Bhuriya from Petlawad; Atmaram Patel from Kasrawad; Lakhan Patel from Pathariya; Rajesh Verma from Gunnaor; Surendra Singh Gaharwar from Chitrakoot; Omprakash Dhurwey from Shahpura; Nanabhau Mohod from Saunsar; Rajkumar Mev from Maheshwar; Adal Singh Kansana from Sumawali.
Rajkumar Karrahe, who resigned from the AAP on Thursday morning, has been fielded from Lanji constituency.
Asked why candidates who lost in previous elections were fielded, Aggarwal said: “We should not write off a politician just because he lost an election, otherwise many top leaders in politics would not exist. This is not an issue.”
Aggarwal said the candidates were selected keeping in mind the “emotions of the karyakartas, hopes of the voters, and the possibility of victory.”
“The selection of these 39 candidates by the central election committee highlights the focus on the youth, experienced, and female candidates for the Assembly elections,” said state BJP president V D Sharma.
The “election management, organisation driven by dedicated workers, and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who are implementing schemes for the welfare of the poor and transforming their lives, will lead the party to secure a massive majority,” he said.
