Madhya Pradesh Congress president Arun Yadav on Wednesday said the party has decided to contest Maihar by-election in coordination with the Gondwana Ganatantra Party (GGP) and the Rashtriya Samanta Dal (RSD) to prevent communal forces from coming to power. This coordination with the GGP and the RSD would continue during 2018 State Assembly elections, Yadav told media here in the presence of state GGP chief PS Bharve and RSD leaders.
Claiming that the party is in strong position in Maihar and would emerge victorious, he alleged that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan remembers only those areas where by-elections are announced. In the past fortnight, he visited Maihar and Satna around half-a-dozen times and made announcements of over Rs500 crore.
Of the nearly two lakh-strong electorate in Maihar, around 15,000 belong to tribal community. The GGP is considered to be a party of tribal leaders and enjoys influence in Mahakoshal region. In 2003 assembly elections, the party had won three seats.
Polling will be held in Maihar on February 13. Counting will take place on February 16. Congress candidate Manish Patel, Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Narayan Tripathi and Bahujan Samaj Partys Ramlakhan Singh Patel are among those in the fray.
The bypoll was necessitated as Tripathi, who was the sitting legislator, resigned after he left the Congress and joined the BJP. Tripathi had earlier contested as a Samajwadi Party candidate before joining the Congress. He filed his nomination on Wednesday.
On the other hand, the Congress has declared Patel as its candidate. Patel has left the Bahujan Samaj Party to join the Congress. He filed his nomination on Monday.