MP polls: With 2nd list of 85 candidates, Cong announces all but 1 nominee

The Congress has announced its second list of 85 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.

With this list issued late Thursday night, the party has declared all but one candidates for elections to the 230-member assembly scheduled for November 17.

The Congress has not yet declared its candidate from Amla seat in Betul district from where a woman deputy collector Nisha Bangre is seeking a ticket but the ruling BJP government has not yet accepted her resignation from the services and the matter at present is pending in the court, the party sources said.

Earlier the party had declared candidates for 144 seats but changed candidature in three seats while issuing the second list. Therefore, the total number of candidates announced in the first list stands at 141, a Congress leader said.

After intense tussle in the party that led to the "tearing of clothes" controversy, the Congress has replaced tickets of Datia, Gotegaon and Pichhore seats.

A video of Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath where he is asking party men to tear clothes of his colleague Digvijaya Singh over denial of ticket to a leader from Shivpuri fuelled talks of a rift in the party over selection of nominees even as the two former chief ministers sought to make light of the episode and on Tuesday put up a united face ahead of the assembly polls.

Nath in a message on X in Hindi on Thursday said the party has issued the second list comprising 88 candidates and extended his best wishes to all of them.

You are not just standing in the assembly polls to become an MLA, but to change the future of the state, he added.

The party has replaced Avdhesh Nayak with senior Congress leader Rajendra Bharti in Datia from where BJP candidate and the state home minister Narottam Mishra is contesting for the fourth time. Mishra won from Datia in 2008, 2013 and 2018 assembly elections.

The party also changed the ticket from Gotegaon (SC) seat from where it replaced Shekhar Choudhary with the sitting MLA and former Assembly Speaker Narmada Prasad Prajapati.

The Congress leadership also replaced Shailendra Singh with Arvind Singh Lodhi from Pichhore seat in Shivpuri district in view of the protest by the party workers.

The party has fielded former minister and sitting MLA PC Sharma from Bhopal South West constituency.

The Congress has given ticket to sitting MLA Arif Aqeel's son, Atif Aqeel from Bhopal North, despite opposition by Arif's younger brother Aamir Aqeel. The BJP has fielded former Bhopal Mayor Alok Sharma from there.

Among the prominent leaders who got the ticket for contesting assembly polls include former minister Choudhary Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi from Bhind, Subhash Sojatia from Garoth and Rajkumar Patel from Bhojpur seats.

The party also fielded Ravinder Singh Tomar from the Dimni assembly seat and he will contest against Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

From the Gwalior assembly seat, considered the bastion of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Congress has fielded Sunil Sharma, who had unsuccessfully contested in a bypoll against sitting MLA and minister Pradhuman Singh Tomar, a known Scindia loyalist.

Besides, the party has fielded BJP-turned-Congress leaders Deepak Joshi from Khategaon and Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat from Badnawar seats for the assembly polls.

The single-phase polling for the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held on November 17 and counting of votes will take place on December 3, along with other poll-bound states.