The ruling Congress and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are bracing up to face the February six byelection to the prestigious Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh.
A traditional Congress stronghold, the constituency was represented in the Lok Sabha by former Union minister Kamal Nath since 1980 and his wife, Alka Nath, won the seat last year by more than 21,000 votes, defeating BJP candidate Choudhary Chandrabhan Singh.
When Alka Nath resigned from her seat last month, it was deemed that she took the step to pave the way for her husband to enter the Lok Sabha.
In the light of the changed political scenario in the country, the Congress was most likely to field Kamal Nath again in the byelection. Meanwhile, the poll had come as a challenge to the BJP which was trying to regain its strength in the state's politics.
The BJP could, therefore, field one of its stalwarts against Nath and contest the poll with all the resources at its command.
Chhindwara continued to remain the lone Congress stronghold even in the 1977 Janata Party wave in the state, which had 40 seats in the Lok Sabha. The constituency had returned senior Congressman Gargi Shankar Mishra to the Lok Sabha from 1967 to 1977.
In 1980, Kamal Nath had won the seat defeating Pratul Chandra
Dwivedi by 70,000 votes. Kamal Nath defeated the BJP candidate by 54,000 and 79,000 votes in 1984 and 1991, respectively.
Despite having no political background, his wife won the seat last year by more than 21,000 votes.
The byelection was important not only for Congress president Sitaram Kesari and Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, but also for the BJP The BJP, which came to power briefly at the Centre last year, being the single largest political party in the Lok Sabha, would view every seat as important. Expecting a fall of the United Front (UF) government, and therefore trying to increase its strength, the party will join the Chhindwara poll fray with all its resources, in which case the Congress would have to pool all its strength to retain the seat.
