Woried over anti-incumbency, BJP may refuse tickets to 80 MLAs in MP polls

The ruling BJP is thinking of not giving tickets to 70-80 MLAs, including some ministers, for the forthcoming Assembly polls in order to tide over anti-incumbency, a party leader said Friday.

Assembly polls in the state are scheduled for November 28 and counting of votes will take place on December 11.

"The party is seriously toying with the idea of not giving tickets to 70-80 MLAs and ministers," a state BJP leader told PTI Friday.

He added that the ruling BJP came up with this idea following reports of public outrage against some MLAs.

Party sources said that MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been touring the state as part of his Jan Ashirwad Yatra, was receiving complaints about non-performing MLAs.

Besides, a recent opinion poll, which showed the Congress returning to power in MP after a gap of 15 years, has also prompted the BJP to set its house in order, they said.

"There is public outrage against some MLAs but not against Chief Minister Chouhan, who still remains popular with the masses," a Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) functionary said.

He said that the BJP stood a good chance of retaining power if new faces are given a chance.

The BJP, in the 2013 Assembly polls, had given about 25 per cent tickets to new faces and 75 per cent of them emerged victorious.

In the 2013 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 165 seats in the 230-member House. The Congress got 58 seats, the BSP four and one seat was won by an Independent.