A number of stalwarts, including leader of the Opposition in the lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Union Ministers Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia are in the fray from Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Sushma, who hails from Haryana, is contesting the polls from Vidisha constituency from where she had won for the first time in the 2009 polls. The Vidisha seat is considered as a safe seat for the saffron party, but this time, it would not be so easy for Sushma to win with a huge margin.
She had an easy run last time as the nomination papers of Congress nominee Rajkumar Patel had been rejected on technical grounds. Her opponent from Congress this time is party General Secretary Digvijay Singh’s younger brother laxman Singh who is contesting from the seat for the first time.
Meanwhile, there are talks that this time, Rajkiumar Patel would file nomination from this constituency, as an independent candidate. Another biggie in the race is Union Minister Kamal Nath who is contesting once again from Chhindwara from where he had won for the first time in 1980.
Kamal Nath has won all lok Sabha elections from Chhindwara district since 1989 and this makes him the longest-serving MP from the State. The only time he lost was in 1997 bye-election after he asked his wife Alka Nath to resign from the seat which she had won in 1996.
Another Union Minister in the poll ring from Madhya Pradesh is Jyotiraditya Scindia who will once again contest from Guna parliamentary constituency. leaving no stone unturned, Scindia’s wife is campaigning extensively in the constituency.
He was elected from Guna for the first time in 2002 in a bye-election following the death of his father Madhavrao Scindia in an air crash. This will be the fourth time that Scindia is in the race.
His BJP opponent this time is Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, who gave a tough fight to his father in Gwalior during the 1996 polls. Another prominent leader in the poll race is Congress leader Arjun Singh’s second son Ajay who is contesting the lS poll for the first time from Satna constituency. He is pitted here against two-time BJP MP Ganesh Singh and Charmendra Tiwari of the BSP.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s nephew Anup Mishra, who lost the assembly elections from Bhitarwar constituency in Gwalior district last November, is the BJP nominee from the Morena district. State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar, who had won from Morena in 2009, has changed his constituency and he is now contesting from Gwalior.
Former Attorney-General of Madhya Pradesh Vivek Tankha, who also served as additional solicitor general, is the Congress nominee from Jabalpur where he is pitted against Rakesh Singh of the BJP.