Will friendly fire damage Congress in MP? In over 90 seats, its INDIA allies stand in its way

One of the most interesting battles will be in Rajnagar in Chhatarpur district that will see all four Opposition parties in the fray. At present, the Congress holds the constituency by a very narrow margin of 732 votes. In 2018, the SP had polled 23,783 votes in Rajnagar. The constituency is among the nine that the Congress won narrowly last time and where at least AAP, SP, or JD(U) are in the fray.

The Congress won Gwalior South by just 121 votes and has to contend with the AAP this time around. The JD(U) has fielded a candidate from Jabalpur North that the Congress won by just 578 votes last time around.

These parties can similarly damage the Congress’s chances in six constituencies that the Congress lost narrowly in 2018. One such seat is Maihar in the district of the same name that the Congress lost to the BJP by 2,984 votes. Last time, the SP polled 11,202 votes and the AAP 1,795 votes. Both are again in the fray this time. Singarauli is also one such seat. The Congress lost it by 3,726 votes in 2018, with the AAP polling 32,167 votes and the SP 4,680 votes. This time, both those parties are again contesting.

The candidates so far

The AAP has so far named 70 candidates, the SP has fielded 43 candidates, and the JD(U) 10. More candidates are expected to be named by Monday, the last day for filing nominations. Of the SP’s candidates, 19 are contesting from seats that the Congress won five years ago. In 2018, the SP contested 52 seats, winning one. The AAP contested 208 constituencies, with all its candidates losing their deposits. The AAP’s overall vote share was 0.66%. The JD(U) did not contest the last Assembly polls.

Last week, the SP was involved in a public spat with the Congress over the latter’s reluctance to give it any seat in Madhya Pradesh. The SP wanted around 12 seats but with the Congress remaining firm went ahead with fielding candidates. The Congress’s insistence on not parting with any seat led SP president Akhilesh Yadav to accuse it of cheating his party and say that had he known the “alliance is not at the state level” he would not have sent his party’s representatives to meet senior Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh or Kamal Nath.