Garoth by-election a prestige issue

The by-election to Garoth seat in Mandsaur district scheduled on Saturday June 27 has become prestige issue for both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress.The by-poll has become crucial especially for Congress that is struggling hard to revive its fortunes in the state after suffering successive defeats in Assembly, lok Sabha and civic polls since 2003. The by-poll is necessitated following the death of BJP MlA Rajesh Yadav.

 Though Congress has tried to corner BJP by targeting Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in one of the biggest admission-cum-recruitment scam, gone infamous  as 'VYAPAM,' the move so far has failed to pay any political dividend to the Opposition party even in the civic elections that were held after the scam was exposed in 2013.

 Taking no chances, Congress relied on its former Minister Subhash Sojatia, a close confidant of party General Secretary and former chief minister Digvijay Singh, to take on the BJP. Earlier, Sojatia won the polls from this seat four times 1985, 1993, 1998 and 2008. The victory in 2008 was crucial as Congress won the seat despite Chouhan proving his political mettle for the first time after becoming Chief Minister in 2005.Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president Arun Yadav said, "Our position is strong in this by-poll and we are confident of winning this election as people of the state are totally fed up with the ruling BJP. The change of power in the state will begin from Garoth. 

Farmers were not being paid compensation in Mandsaur district for long for damage to their soybean and orange crops because of unseasonal rains. Chouhan is just shedding crocodile tears for them." On the other hand, BJP that lost the Bahoriband by-poll to Congress despite fielding Pranav Pandey, son of sitting MlA Prabhat Pandey whose death necessitated the by-election in August 2014 is not taking any chances this time. The seat was won by Congress' Saurabh Singh by a margin of nearly 8,000 votes as the party was then unable to cash on the sympathy votes. The BJP has decided to field a farmer leader and RSS functionary, Chander Singh Sisodiya by denying a ticket to the wife of former MlA, Rajesh Yadav.

Madhya Pradesh BJP President and Khandwa MP, Nandkumar Singh Chouhan said "BJP is contesting this by-poll on the achievements and credibility of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's government and we are totally confident of winning this election."Traditionally, the contest in Garoth is between Congress and BJP only, but this time, a total of eight candidates are in the fray. Taking the by-election seriously, State Congress President is camping in Garoth while ruling BJP has fielded Nandkumar Chouhan and its Organizational General Secretary, Arvind Menon, who too are staying in the area to monitor day-to-day campaigning.

CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan took 12 election meetings in the constituency from June 21-24 and also conducted a road show to reach out to voters. Union Minister for Steel and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar has started campaigning in the area.Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, former Union Ministers Namo Narayan Meena and Kamal Nath, Rajasthan State Congress President Sachin Pilot among others campaigned in the constituency to revive Congress' fortunes.Meanwhile, the Election Commission has allocated four companies of CRPF for peaceful conduct of by-election. Two companies of state police have already been deployed in the constituency which is close to Rajasthan border.