MP bypolls: An uphill task for Congress in Vijaypur

Bhopal, Oct 15 (IANS) Vijaypur is one of the Assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh where the by-elections will be held on November 13, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Located in the Sheopur district of the Gwalior-Chambal region in MP, Vijaypur, which is the segment of the Morena Lok Sabha constituency, has been one of the safest seats for the Congress for the past three decades.

In the past eight Assembly elections held between 1990 and 2023, the Congress won the Vijaypur seat six times and the BJP twice (1998 and 2018).

However, in the last election held in November 2023, a close contest was witnessed between Congress' Ramniwas Rawat and BJP candidate Babulal Mevra.

Senior politician Ramniwas Rawat, however, won the election with a margin of little over 17, 000 votes. It was Rawat's sixth victory from the Vijaypur assembly seat.

A by-election in Vijaypur was necessitated after Congress MLA Ramniwas Rawat resigned from the party and the state Assembly and joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election. He is now state Forest Minister in Chief Minister Mohan Yadav's cabinet.

The by-election in Vijaypur is likely to witness a bipolar contest between the ruling BJP and Congress, however, what will be more interesting is that leader - Ramniwas Rawat, who won this particular seat on Congress' symbol, will be on BJP's side.

Sources told IANS that the BJP likely to field Rawat from Vijaypur for the by-election. An indication about his candidature has already been made by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav during a public programme in Vijaypur last week when he appealed to people to re-elect Rawat.

The state election management committee has forwarded the names of possible candidates for Vijaypur and Budhni, the bastion of BJP stalwart and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, however, the final announcement will be made by the party's central leadership.

On the other hand, the Madhya Pradesh Congress led by Jitu Patwari, has also appointed a members panel to select the candidates for Vijaypur and Budhni Assembly seats.

In the last Assembly elections held in November 2023, the BJP won 163 out of 230 Assembly seats in the state, while the Congress reduced 66 against 114 it had won in 2018. Of those 66, three Congress MLAs have already resigned from the party and have joined the BJP, including Ramniwas Rawat.

--IANS

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