MP bypolls: Mungaoli, Kolaras vote today in intense Shivraj vs Scindia contest | Updates

In a massive political showdown today, Madhya Pradesh's two assembly constituencies- Mungaoli and Kolaras will vote today - in what will set the tone for the upcoming Assembly election in the state.

The two Assembly seats within the Guna Parliamentary constituency are represented by Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia in the Lok Sabha.

The Guna Parliamentary constituency has traditionally been a Congress stronghold which was represented by the late Madhavrao Scindia.

Scindia, in his attempt to stake claim for the Congress party's chief ministerial face for the state elections, has turned these by-elections into a prestige battle.

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The by-polls were called after the death of the two sitting Congress legislators Ram Singh Yadav of Kolaras and Mahendra Singh Kalukheda of Mungaoli.

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• I have been standing in queue for the past one hour, voting has not started since the EVM is not working: Local, Kolaras #MadhyaPradesh pic.twitter.com/O0mCat7cSz

  ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2018

• Voting has begun for both the Mungaoli and Kolaras seats.
• In the run up to the elections, Scindia attacked Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at every possible opportunity, be it on the Vyapam scam or the looming agrarian crisis across the state.
• These seats are also important for the ruling BJP to prove that the power of Scindia is going down in the poll-bound state.
• Chouhan deputed his entire cabinet to campaign for the two seats, including Jyotiraditya's aunt Yashodra Raje against the Scindia dynasty's tradition of not campaigning against each other.
• Chouhan himself has camped in the two constituencies and held several rallies and road shows, thus making it a Shivraj-versus-Scindia affair.
• In Kolaras, the Congress has fielded Mahendra Singh Yadav while the BJP has fielded Devendra Jain. In 2013, Jain had contested the elections on the BJP ticket against Ram Singh Yadav of the Congress and lost by over 25,000 votes.
• In Mungaoli, Congress has fielded Brajinder Singh Yadav who is pitted against Bai Saab Yadav of BJP. In 2013, the late Mahendra Singh Kalukhera of Congress had won this seat by around 22,000 votes.

(With inputs from Hemendra Sharma)

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