Madhya Pradesh by-polls: Congress fields ex-minister Patel from Budhni, Saharia tribal leader Malhotra from Vijaypur

Bhopal: The Congress on Sunday night announced the candidature of former minister Rajkumar Patel from Budhni seat and tribal leader Mukesh Malhotra from Vijaypur segment for the upcoming assembly bypolls in Madhya Pradesh.

The BJP has already nominated former MP Ramakant Bhargava for the Budhni seat in the Sehore district and will field ex-Congress leader Ramniwas Rawat in the Vijaypur constituency in Sheopur district.

Malhotra, who will contest from Vijaypur, is a leader from the Saharia tribe. During the November 2023 assembly elections, he had contested as an independent and bagged 44,128 votes, while Rawat won the seat as a Congress nominee.

Rawat, however, crossed over to the BJP before the Lok Sabha election this year and subsequently became a cabinet minister in the Mohan Yadav government.

The bypoll to Vijaypur seat is being held due to Rawat’s switch.

The Congress has fielded former minister Rajkumar Patel from Budhni assembly seat.

The election to Budhni constituency was necessitated following the resignation of former chief minister and BJP heavyweight Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who won the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat earlier this year and became a minister at the Centre.

Patel is from the OBC (Other Backward Class) Kirar community, to which Chouhan belongs. This community has a sizeable population in the Budhni assembly segment. Chouhan had represented the seat for five consecutive terms since 2006.

Patel had won the seat on a Congress ticket in 1993 and was made a minister in the cabinet of the then CM Digvijaya Singh.

Patel lost the last state polls from Bhojpur in neighbouring Raisen district by a margin of over 40,000 votes.

Earlier, he was mired in some controversy and the Congress expelled him for six years after his nomination from Vidisha Lok Sabha seat in 2009 was rejected on technical grounds at the eleventh hour. It was alleged that Patel, fielded against BJP stalwart Sushma Swaraj, had deliberately created such a situation.

Patel, however, was re-inducted in the party in 2014.

Now, Patel will face BJP’s Bhargava, a confidant of Union minister Chouhan, in Budhni.

Polling in both constituencies will be held on November 13 and votes will be counted on November 23.

According to poll officials, the Vijaypur constituency has 2,54,647 voters, including 1,21,091 female electors, 1,33,554 male electors, two from the third gender and 103 service personnel.

In Budhni, 2,76,397 citizens are eligible to cast their ballots. Of them, 1,33,280 are female, 1,43,111 male, six from the third gender, and 194 are service voters.

There will be 327 polling stations in Vijaypur assembly constituency, while this number is 363 in Budhni.