Two seats in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be up for grabs when Vijaypur and Budhni go for byelections on November 13 with the last-minute tensions in Vijaypur after a firing incident in a village allegedly over the voter slips on Monday (November 11, 2024).
The byelections, first since the Lok Sabha elections, have somethings at stake for both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. The BJP is looking to strengthen its numbers in the Assembly after it won a massive majority last year. The Congress, on the other hand, is hoping for an electoral boost, five months after a 29-0 defeat in the Lok Sabha polls at the hands of the BJP.
The firing incident in Dhanachya village which injured two people has tensed the atmosphere just ahead of voting with the Congress alleging that the men were “sent by the BJP” and were forcing tribals to surrender their voter slips. The BJP, however, termed the incident a “Congress conspiracy to influence the voters”.
Budhni holds significance as it had been represented by Union Cabinet Minister and former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan since 2006 and was only vacated after he became an MP from Vidisha in June this year and was made a Cabinet Minister. Budhni Assembly constituency falls under Vidisha Lok Sabha segment and is also Mr. Chouhan’s native place.
The BJP has fielded former Vidisha MP Ramakant Bhargava, who had been replaced by Mr. Chouhan in the Lok Sabha polls, while the Congress has entrusted former State Government minister Raj Kumar Patel, who won from Budhni in 1993.
Vijaypur, on the other hand, is set for a close contest, mainly due to the Congress’ candidate selection. The Congress has fielded Mukesh Malhotra, a tribal leader in the region, from an unreserved seat, who will take on Cabinet Minister Ramniwas Rawat.
Mr. Rawat, a six-term MLA from Congress, had moved to the BJP in April and had resigned from his legislative membership after becoming a Minister.
Vijaypur comes under the Morena Lok Sabha in the State’s Chambal region, where caste is known to be a major factor in elections and is again at play in the byelections.
Mr. Malhotra, who had failed to get a Congress ticket in the 2023 Assembly elections after quitting the BJP, had contested as an independent and had finished third with over 44,000 votes.
With him in fray this time, the Congress is banking on the support of the around 65,000 tribal voters, the highest in the constituency.
The party is also working to form an effective combination of various other communities with leaders from nearby regions campaigning there. It also pooled in former Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot to woo the Gurjar-Marwari voters and Bharatpur MP Sanjana Jatav to reach out to the Dalit community. M.P. Congress chief Jitu Patwari and former CM Digvijaya Singh among other senior leaders also extensively campaigned in Vijaypur.
The party has also constantly alleged misuse of administration by the ruling BJP and raised questions on replacing the Sheopur District Collector, in which Vijaypur falls, just five days before the model code of conduct. The party had also complained to the Election Commission against the move.
The Opposition party has also alleged that several booth level officers (BLOs) have been replaced with people close to Mr. Rawat and that they were not distributing the voter slips in tribal dominated areas to stop them from casting their votes.
Meanwhile, for the BJP, Vijaypur has turned into a matter of prestige with a Cabinet Minister in fray. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, State BJP chief V.D. Sharma and Mr. Chouhan were among the prominent leaders who visited the constituency several times for campaigning.
Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar, a prominent leader in the region and former Morena MP, had also campaigned for Mr. Rawat, including holding nukkad sabhas. The Congress had complained to the State EC against the Speaker’s campaigning.
However, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who holds influence across Gwalior-Chambal region, remained missing from Mr. Rawat’s campaign. Local observers say that once a close aide of Mr. Scindia, Mr. Rawat’s equations with him deteriorated after he quit the Congress in 2020.
Meanwhile, in Budhni, the BJP is targeting an improved margin from 2023 when Mr. Chouhan won the seat by around 1.5 lakh votes. Whereas the Congress is hoping that Mr. Patel is able to attract the influential OBC community, especially the Kirar sub-group.
Both Mr. Patel and Mr. Chouhan hail from the significant Kirar group of OBC, which has long supported the BJP in the area. However, with the BJP fielding a Brahmin this time, the Congress is baking on Mr. Patel’s ability to pull the community back to him.
In both constituencies, both parties have traded charges at each other, including those of corruption and unfulfilled promises, with the BJP looking to giving the Congress a third defeat in one year and the Congress trying for a boost and energise the cadre for a revival in the State.
The votes will be counted on November 23.
Sheopur Additional SP Satendra Singh Tomar told The Hindu that an FIR has been filed in the firing incident and two men have been arrested.
He said that the atmosphere in the area was normal now but adequate security arrangements have been made in and around the village to avoid any further incidents.
When asked about political allegations, he said that the complaint given to the police and the FIR do not have any mention of the accusations.
“But we will still look into all possible angles in our investigation,” he said.
Published – November 13, 2024 03:07 am IST
