Even as the campaigning for sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections came to an end on Friday evening in eight seats of Madhya Pradesh that are set to go to polls on May 12, all eyes are set on the hot seat of Bhopal where the Congress’s Digvijaya Singh is taking on Pragya Singh Thakur of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
However, much more is at stake on the eight crucial seats that might actually decide the trend for the current polls. Of the eight seats, the Congress currently holds only one, Guna, while seven others are with the BJP.
But the Congress, buoyed by its good performance in the 2018 assembly polls in the Gwalior-Chambal belt, hopes to make inroads in the BJP bastions this time bringing its tally significantly up from mere two seats, out of total 29, won in 2014.
The BJP is having a tough time saving its seats, given the dissidence among leaders and cadre following the ticket distribution. The seats that go to polls on Sunday are: Bhopal, Guna, Rajgarh, Vidisha, Sagar, Bhind, Morena and Gwalior.
Moreover, the prestige of political bigwigs in Madhya Pradesh including ex-chief ministers Digvijaya Singh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan and ex-Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia are at stake as seats either contested or influenced by them would be up for voting.
Digvijaya’s hot seat and home turf
Apart from Bhopal, where Digvijaya himself is contesting in a most attention-grabbing scenario against Pragya Singh Thakur, he also influences the Rajgarh seat considered to be his home turf. Digvijaya Singh is the scion of the erstwhile royal family of Raghogarh falling in the Rajgarh district.
Digvijaya himself has represented the seat in parliament twice, while his brother Laxman Singh has been a MP five times—four times for the Congress and once for the BJP. Laxman Singh is back in the Congress fold now, but this time the party has fielded Mona Sustani, district working president of the party and Digvijaya Singh's confidante. She is the first woman candidate from any major party to ever contest on the seat.
The BJP has gone again with sitting MP Rodmal Nagar, who faces resentment of party cadre as well as the voters for his alleged non-performance. Digivijaya Singh would hope the Congress to win back the seat.
Vidisha: Shivraj’s challenge
For another former chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, retaining the Vidisha seat might have become a personal issue. Chouhan himself has represented Vidisha five times in Parliament and has been considered a safe seat for the BJP. Therefore, stalwarts like late Atal Bihari Vajpayee and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (sitting MP) have fought on the seat in the past.
This time, with Swaraj refusing to contest, Shivraj Singh was hoping to get a ticket for his wife Sadhna Singh in Vidisha. The party did not relent, but agreed to give a ticket to Shivraj’s confidante Ramakant Bhargav.
But the decision of the Congress to pitch ex-MLA Shailendra Patel with a strong local base has made the contest tough for Bhargav, though given the BJP’s huge vote base here, he might still have the edge, political watchers feel.
Gwalior-Chambal: Scindia’s battlefield
For Jyotiraditya Scindia, who himself is contesting to retain his family bastion Guna, more is at stake in the Gwalior-Chambal region that he managed to swing in the Congress’s favour in 2018 assembly polls. The fact that the Congress won 26 out of 34 assembly seats in the region in 2018 and the strong presence of Scindia has given the party high hopes.
The Congress candidates are engaged in tough battles against the BJP candidates in the three seats of Gwalior, Morena and Bhind and the ruling party in the state hopes to wrest all the three.
In Morena, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar is pitted against the Congress’s Ramniwas Rawat, a five-time MLA (lost 2018 polls) and ex-cabinet minister in the state. Since Tomar has shifted his constituency from Gwalior to Morena, the party cadre and sitting MP Anoop Mishra is not too happy with the shift. Also BSP’s Kartar Singh Bhadana is making the contest triangular and tough.
In Bhind, the hotbed of Dalit movement two years ago, the Congress has fielded young face Devashish Jararia, who was a prominent name in the movement. He is pitted against Sandhya Rai of the BJP. Both are outsider candidates thus creating confusion among the party cadre and populace.
In Gwalior, a tough contest is on cards between the Congress’s Ashok Singh and the BJP’s Vivek Shejwalkar, with the former said to have an edge.
In Sagar seat of Bundelkhand region, open dissidence by sitting MP Laxminarayan Yadav and a section of party cadre is making the contest quite tough for the BJP candidate Raj Bahadur, a confidante of ex-home minister Bhoopendra Singh. However, political observers feel that the Congress and its candidate Prabhu Singh Thakur have not been able to take good advantage of the infighting in the BJP camp and the contest is wide open.
Highlights:
Seats going to polls on May 12: Bhopal, Guna, Rajgarh, Vidisha, Sagar, Bhind, Morena, Gwalior
Seven seats with the BJP, only one—Guna—with the Congress
The Congress is hoping to do better in Gwalior-Chambal seats (Gwalior, Bhind, Morena) where it won 26 out of 34 seats in 2018 assembly polls
Contest to watch: Digvijaya Singh vs Pragya Singh Thakur in Bhopal
