The by-elections to Shahdol lok Sabha and Nepanagar Assembly seats would be a litmus test for the BJP, both in Madhya Pradesh and at the Centre, on the issue of demonetization.
According to officials, elaborate arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of the by-polls. "Total 17 candidates are in the fray for the Shahdol lS seat, while four are trying their luck for Nepanagar," an election official said today. Both the seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.
Thirty companies (15 each) of armed police forces have been deployed in the two constituencies to provide security during the polling. "Over 4,000 EVMs will be used to seal the fate of the candidates.
The EVMs also carry the photographs of the candidates to facilitate the voters," the official said.
In Shahdol, there are 16,00,787 voters, whereas in Nepanagar, 2,30,420 people can exercise their franchise.
While the Congress has fielded Himadri Singh, daughter of former Union Minister Dalbir Singh and ex-MP Rajesh Nandini Singh, for Shahdol lok Sabha seat, the BJP has given ticket to tribal leader Gyan Singh, a senior Minister in Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Cabinet for the reserved seat.
The Shahdol bypoll was necessitated due to death of BJP MP Dalpat Singh Paraste. In 2014, Paraste had wrested the seat from Congress's Rajesh Nandini Singh by a margin of over 2.14 lakh votes. The present BJP candidate Gyan Singh had earlier won the Shahdol seat twice in 1996 and 1998.
In Nepanagar, the Congress has reposed faith in tribal leader Antar Singh Barde, while BJP has fielded Manju Dadu, daughter of late MlA Rajendra Shyamlal Dadu, whose death caused by an accident, necessitated the by-poll to cash in on the sympathy vote.
Besides these prominent names, several other candidates have also filed their nominations for the by-polls.