With the announcement of by-election for Maihar assembly constituency of the State debate has started on whether or not the opposition Congress would be able to continue its winning spree started by wining Ratlam – Jhabua parliamentary seat in November 2015 that was followed by registering victories in municipal councils of Shajapur, Dhamnod, Orchha, Dhamnod and Majhauli also in December 2015.
Though both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress have not yet declared their candidates but it is almost clear as writing on the wall that Narayan Tripathi whose resignation from the assembly necessitated this by-poll as he joined saffron party ditching Congress would be BJP’s candidate and Manish Patel who joined Congress quitting Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) a few days would be fielded by the grand old party.
It would be interesting to watch the way the election results go as the Congress banking on the recent victories is looking at its comeback in the State after being out of power for over a decade would make all out efforts to continue its victory march while the BJP would for sure pitch to stop the triumphal chariot of the opposition party at this point only.
Maihar assembly constituency has almost the similar track record like that of Ratlam – Jhabua parliamentary constituency as it had remained a strong bastion of Congress. Since its constitution in 1957 Maihar has faced 13 elections in that it elected Congress party candidates eight times, Janata Party once in 1977, independent once in 1985, Janata Dal once in 1990, Samajwadi Party (SP) once in 2003 and the BJP only once in 2008.
Interestingly Narayan Tripathi has won two times from this seat first time in 2003 on SP ticket and in 2013 on Congress ticket and this time in all probabilities he would be the BJP candidate.
However, it would be interesting to watch whether or not the BSP enters in the contest for this by-poll as it is having substantial presence in this constituency and the election results would be largely affected on this party’s presence in the field.
Besides, this by-poll would also be important for the political fortune of senior Congress leader and former leader of opposition in the Madhya Pradesh assembly Ajay Singh who is having strong hold over the region and is often made responsible for Tripathi changing sides to saffron party and would also be acid test for Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who brought Tripathi in the BJP fold and is under severe pressure to stop Congress’ victory march in the State.