The Congress on Friday announced its candidates for the byelections to 15 Assembly seats, including all reserved constituencies, in Madhya Pradesh. Two of them were earlier in the BJP.
Mukul Wasnik, All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh, released the list of candidates for nine seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and for two seats set aside for the Scheduled Tribes, after approval from party president Sonia Gandhi. The byelections to 27 seats are due along with the byelections nationwide and the Bihar Assembly election.
Premchand Guddu, the candidate for Sanwer (SC), is a former Congress Lok Sabha member from Ujjain. He had joined the BJP but returned to the Congress in May. Kanhaiyalal Agarwal, the candidate for Bamori, won the seat in 2008 as a BJP candidate, but later contested as an Independent.
Gohad (SC) candidate Mevaram Jatav had contested in the seat previously on Congress ticket. Phool Singh Baraiya, the party’s candidate in the Rajya Sabha election in June and a former Bahujan Samaj Party leader, is the candidate from Bhander (SC).
“The Congress is fighting for its self-respect in these byelections,” said Rasheed Kidwai, visiting fellow, Observer Research Foundation. “A cursory glance at the list indicates there will be a keen contest over caste factors, local issues and COVID-19-related economic hardships, in which the personality of candidates will be a central theme,” he said.
Amid a political tussle in March, 22 seats fell vacant after Congress rebels, including 19 supporters of former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, resigned, precipitating the fall of the 15-month Kamal Nath government. Later, three more Congress MLAs switched over to the BJP. Two seats had earlier fallen vacant with the death of the incumbents. The Congress has announced its candidates for most of the seats in the Gwalior-Chambal region, Mr. Scindia’s stronghold.
The BSP last month named eight candidates and said it would contest in all 27 seats. The BJP is yet to declare its candidates.