The Gondwana Mukti Sena (GMS) and the Gondwana Vikas Party (GVP) on Saturday announced a joint list of 34 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls to be held on November 25.
GMS State president Balbir Singh Tomar told reporters here on Saturday that both parties have decided to contest together from 215 Assembly seats. The Gondwana Mukti Sena would take the issues of atrocities against tribesmen before the electorate. Both the Congress and BJP intend to wipe out tribals completely, he alleged.
Party caretaker Darbu Singh Uike said 98 candidates were fielded in 2008 Assembly polls. Several candidates had secured a good number of votes. Two party candidates including himself and Prem Singh Marawi had succeeded in securing third place from Paraswada seat in Balaghat district and Shahpura seat in Dindori district respectively.
Uike’s candidature has been announced from Budhni seat, which is represented by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Party sources said Uike’s candidature from Budhni has been made keeping in mind sizeable number of tribal voters in the constituency.
Uike alleged that the relatives of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan have been allotted a mining lease for 10 years in Balaghat district but when the matter came into fore the documents of the lease were destroyed. The mining lease was awarded to SS Minerals and the name of the Bhopal based owner is SS Chouhan.
He informed that Budhni constituency has around 50,000 tribals and apathetic attitude of the State Government could be held responsible for the lack of development of the community. On September 26, the police had cane-charged tribals at Mandla injuring several and were booked after fabricating false charges on them.