MP polls: Several bigwigs fail to make a mark

A number of big names, both from the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress, failed to win during the just-concluded Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.

Leading the pack is former Union Minister Suresh Pachouri, who was the president of state Congress unit during the November 2008 elections.

Pachouri, who has never won an election, contested from the Bhojpur constituency where he lost to BJP's Surendra Patwa, nephew of former Chief Minister Sunderlal Patwa, by a margin of over 15,000 votes.

From BJP, Anoop Mishra, the nephew of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, lost from Bhitarwar in Gwalior. Anoop did not contest from the seat where he had been elected in 2008, but the change in constituency did not help him.

Former minister N P Prajapati of Congress failed to get re-elected from Gotegaon seat in Narsinghpur district apparently due to the influence of MP from Hoshangabad, Rao Uday Pratap Singh, who recently left Congress and joined BJP.

In another upset, Bal Mukund Gautam of Congress had lost the 2008 Assembly elections from Dhar constituency to Neena Verma of the BJP by a margin of just one vote.

The Supreme Court had declared him elected from the constituency just before the polls, but he was unable to encash the sympathy generated and lost.

Veteran Congress leader Hazarilal Raghuvanshi lost for the second time in a row from Seoni Malwa constituency in Hoshangabd district, to Sartaj Singh of BJP. Raghuvanshi is also a former Minister and was deputy speaker of the state Assembly from 2003 to 2008.

Priyawrat Singh of Congress, a relative of party General Secretary Digvijay Singh, failed to get re-elected from Khilchipur constituency in Rajgarh district.

State minister Jagannath Singh, who had been elected to the Assembly twice, this time lost to Saraswati Singh of Congress by 9,778 votes from Sidhi seat in Sidhi district.

Pradyuman Singh Tomar, said to be a supporter of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, lost from Gwalior district to Jai Bhan Singh Pawaiya of BJP.

Other BJP ministers who lost in the elections this time include Harishankar Khateek, Laxmikant Sharma, Brajendra Pratap Singh, Karan Singh Verma Ajay Bishnoi and K L Agrawal.

Prominent Congress leaders who tasted defeat are - Yadvendra Singh, Brajendra Singh Rathore, Chandrabhan Singh and Rajwardhan Singh Dattigaon.