Ten constituencies of the State go to polls in the second phase of poling in the State on Thursday and the BJP, with its campaign boosted by Narendra Modi and its recent victory in the Assembly elections, will be hoping that it will be able to add all of them to its kitty. One of them is, however, the Congress stronghold that presently has Jyotiraditya Scindia as its MP.
Bhopal was briefly in focus as BJP’s senior leader lK Advani initially insisted that he would rather contest from that seat than any in Gujarat, but with that being resolved the party is hoping it will remain a safe seat for the party.
Morena
Being the nephew of Atal Bihari Vajapee, BJP candidate Anoop Mishra already has an established identity. Despite losing the Assembly elections he still received a nomination from the BJP.The seat is presently held by the BJP when in 2009 Narendra Singh Tomar beat Congress’s Ramniwas Rawat by over a lakh votes.
Mishra faces Govind Singh from the Congress, who was elected as MlA for six consecutive terms. In addition, the Morena constituency is a stronghold of the ‘Thakur’ community which is expected to favour Singh.
Bhind
The Congress is fielding two-time MlA Imarti Devi for the constituency of Bhind. What makes the fight interesting is that the Congress had earlier chosen Dr Bhagirath Prasad as its candidate only to be left in the lurch the next day, when he switched parties to join the BJP.
Prasad had earlier lost the 2009 election and will be hoping to capitalise on the support for the BJP, particularly the support for Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Modi. The seat was won by the BJP in 2009 by Ashok Argal of the BJP.
Gwalior
State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar has decided to battle it out from the Gwalior constituency although he is presently the sitting MP from Morena. Tomar may just have it easy given that generally candidates backed by the royal family win the election. Besides, the Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also put his weight behind the leader. The Congress has fielded Ashok Singh but his record isn’t exactly stellar given he lost to Yashodhara Raje Scindia in the elections twice in the past.
Guna
Considered a bastion of the Scindia royal family, Jyotiraditya Scindia is seeking to retain the seat for the fourth time this lok Sabha election. But the battle is not easy, as he has to contend with Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya who had challenged his father, the late Madhavrao Scindia, in the 1998 elections and had reduced the victory margin to just 26,000 votes. The AAP is also contesting for this seat but is unlikely to play a major role especially after its candidate, Shailendra Singh Kushwah, was accused of gangrape by a woman.
Sagar
Thanks to infighting the BJP is fielding a relatively unknown candidate from the constituency of Sagar laxmi Narayan Yadav, a political leader who is known to have switched parties multiple times over the last ten years. Yadav faces Govind Singh Rajput of the Congress who is being backed by all factions within the party and could hope to capitalise on the BJP’s disarray.
Tikamgarh
The BJP had won the seat of Tikamgarh in the recent assembly polls and decided to retain Dr Virendra Kumar, who also won the previous lok Sabha election. The Congress is fielding Dr Kamlesh Verma for this seat.
Damoh
The battle in this constituency could tilt in favour of the BJP given the rumours that Congress candidate Mahendra Pratap Singh could join the BJP. The BJP has fielded senior leader and former Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel for the seat and he should benefit given that his nearest rival may just be switching sides.
Khajuraho
At Khajuraho, Raja Pateria from the Congress, Narendra Singh from BJP and Ram lakhan from BSP will be locked in what is expected to be a close contest for the seat. The seat was won by the BJP in the last general elections.
Rajgarh
Rajgarh is the only other constituency apart from Guna where the Congress has a strong foothold. Its candidate, Narayan Singh Ambale won the 2009 lok Sabha elections and is contesting again for a second term. He will, however, face some competition in the form of Rodmal Nagar of the BJP and BSP candidate Shivnarayan Verma.
Bhopal
BJP has fielded the relatively low profile Alok Sanjar. He was pitted against a well established and experienced candidate of the Congress, PC Sharma, who is a strong supporter of Digvijaya Singh. He is also the district unit chief of Congress for Bhopal.AAP candidate, Rachna Dhingra is also in the fray and the party says she has supporters from among the survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy due to her persistent efforts to support and improve their condition. Dhingra quit her lucrative job abroad to join the party.