The Madhya constituency of Bhopal district has become a tough seat for the Congress, as annoyed with the nomination of Arif Masood, two Muslim candidates filed nomination papers on Friday, the last day of filing nominations.
So far, it was believed that there is direct fight between BJP’s Surendnath Singh and Congress’ Arif Masood. But on Friday, Nasir Islam and Munawar Qausar, who were also lobbying for Congress’ ticket, filed their nominations.
Masood’s nomination was oppossed by a number of locals and other ticket claimants. On Thursday, supporters of Syed Sajid Ali and Nasir Islam and Govind Goyal had gathered at the PCC Headquarters. They shouted slogans against Congress leader Suresh Pachouri and demanded reconsideration on the nomination of Masood.
Political observers feel that opposition by different leaders would certainly affect the chances of Masood’s victory. Besides, presence of two Muslim candidates would further create problem for masood, as they would garner votes of the community that Masood could get.
It is believed that with the presence of Masood in the arena would fuel the polarisation of votes on communal lines. The Madhya (Central) constituency is a typical in the district, as it has almost equal areas of old and new city localities.
The trio would wrestle from the same pool of votes directly benefitting BJP candidate Singh who already hold strong base at the ground level with an image of accessible leader among the residents of Bhopal Madhya state assembly constituency making the contest a piece of cake.