- No ticket to Scindia supporters so far
- Two-time loser Pritam gets ticket from Sadhvi’s veto
Harish Dubey, Gwalior
Not a single Scindia supporter has got a place in the Gwalior Chambal region in the first list of candidates announced by the BJP for the 23rd election. Although Aindal Singh Kansana of Sumavali, who was involved in the rebellion led by Scindia in March 2020, has been given a ticket but he was never considered a follower of Scindia. While in the Congress, he was associated with former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, although it is true that since coming to the BJP, he has been doing politics in harmony with all the stalwarts, including Scindia and Narendra Singh. Several months before the election, getting the ticket confirmed from his traditional seat in the first list of candidates itself proves that he got the ticket only with the support of all the camps of the party.
Pritam Singh Lodhi, who managed to get a ticket in the first list, has once again been selected by the BJP to take on six-time MLA KP Singh of the Congress. Pritam Lodhi, who is considered a staunch supporter of Uma Bharti, will contest against KP Singh for the third time in a row. Earlier it was expected that the BJP might field a well-known face with power at the state level to defeat KP Singh, but other alternative strategies remained ineffective in front of Uma Bharti’s veto power.
It is a fact that since Pritam Lodhi made Pichhore his assembly seat, the victory margin of Congress MLA KP Singh has reduced from 20,000 to 2,000. KP won his initial election in 93 by about 16 thousand votes. In 1998, BJP had fielded Swami Prasad Lodhi, brother of Uma Bharti, but even then the margin of victory remained only 16,000. When Pritam Lodhi contested the elections for the first time in 2013, he brought the margin of victory over KP to seven thousand. Last time i.e. in 2018, KP could barely win by only 2,675 votes. The special thing is that soon after the announcement of his candidature, Pritam Lodhi started his election campaign by offering prayers at Dhay Mahadev, the oldest temple in Pichhore.
Actually, Pichhore has been the traditional seat of Congress. So far, the Congress has won here ten times while the BJP has won only once. The MLAs here have also been getting a chance to become ministers when their party forms the government in the state. KP himself was a cabinet minister in the Digvijay government, before him Lakshminarayan Gupta was an MLA from here in the Patwa government and Bhaiya Lodhi was a minister in the Congress governments. However, KP Singh regretted that after a long gap of 15 years, he was denied a ministerial post in the Congress government formed under the leadership of Kamal Nath in 2018. Despite this, KP did not join the rebel coup of March 2020, sticking to his Congress allegiance. Although KP Singh, due to his honest, hardworking and image of always being among the people of his area, takes out the seat every time even in very adverse circumstances, even with a small margin of votes, but like the last time, for him, the path of electoral battle is very challenging.
Political circles eyeing Ranveer’s next step in Gohad
The most surprising ticket in the BJP’s first list has been that of Gohad, where the BJP has expressed confidence in its old veteran face Lalsingh Arya by cutting the ticket of Ranveer Singh Jatav, who left his legislature in support of Scindia.
Now the eyes of political observers are fixed on the next step of Ranveer Jatav, will Ranveer revolt once again or accept the decision of the party and join hands to make his old rival Lal Singh win or stay in the party and harm Chambal. This is the question being asked in political circles. It is reported that Ranveer, a Scindia supporter, has been persuaded by assuring him of another big post in power. Contesting as a Congress candidate in 2018, Ranveer defeated Lalsingh by 23,989 votes, though he lost to Lalsingh Arya in 2013 by a margin of 19,814 votes. After the murder of his MLA father, Ranveer Singh became MLA from Congress for the first time after winning the by-election in 2009. Lalsingh Arya has also won elections from here three times and after being a minister in BJP governments many times, is now the National President of BJP SC Front. In 23, Lalsingh’s contest with Mevaram Jatav of Congress is believed to be fixed, who became MLA for the first time in November 2020 by-election, Mevaram has lost three elections before this. It is obvious that the contest in Gohad will be interesting and exciting this time. However, Gohad has been the traditional seat of BJP. If we look at the elections so far, the Jana Sangh and the BJP have won from here seven times while the Congress has won only five times.
Sabalgarh: When the father-in-law fell ill, the daughter-in-law was given a ticket
Women’s representation has also been taken care of in the first list of the candidates of the ruling party, which is trying to win the women’s vote bank by running the Ladli Bahna Yojana before the elections. This is indicated by giving ticket to Sarla Vijender Rawat from Sabalgarh seat. Sarla Rawat was nominated by the BJP in 2018 as well, but she was defeated, although she got 45,000 votes. The party has reposed faith in her by giving her the ticket. Sarla has inherited politics. Her father-in-law Meharban Singh Rawat has been a BJP MLA from Sabalgarh thrice in 1990, 2003 and 2013 but due to ill health, he requested the party to give ticket to daughter-in-law Sarla in his place, which the party accepted. Talking about the Congress, there is a high possibility of fielding its sitting MLA Baijnath Kushwaha again. In this situation, BJP’s Sarla Rawat will have to fight with Baijnath only. BSP also has a big vote bank here. And it has been affecting the chances of victory of Congress and BJP in the last elections and like 2018, the contest in 23 will remain triangular.
