Bhopal, June 19 (PTI) Congress on Wednesday announced Dheeran Shah Invati as its candidate for the byelection to Amarwara assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district.
Invati will face the BJP candidate and three-time MLA Kamlesh Shah, who quit the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and joined the saffron party.
The bypoll, scheduled for July 10, was necessitated by Kamlesh Shah’s resignation after switching the parties.
Shah filed his nomination papers on Tuesday in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state BJP chief V D Sharma.
Amarwara constituency is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
In a major setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Kamlesh Shah, a close confidante of party veteran and former chief minister Kamal Nath, resigned on March 29 and joined the ruling BJP.
In the recently concluded general elections, the BJP won all 29 parliamentary seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Nath’s bastion Chhindwara, the only seat it had failed to win in 2019.
Byelections to 13 assembly constituencies across seven states would take place on July 10.
After winning the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat, the BJP will face the challenge of winning Amarwara assembly seat which Kamlesh Shah had won as a Congress candidate in November 2023.
In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s Vivek Bunty Sahu defeated Congress candidate Nakul Nath, son of Kamal Nath, by 1.13 lakh votes.
After 1972, the BJP has won Amarwara seat twice — 1990 and 2008 — while the Congress has won the seat nine times.
Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), a tribal outfit, won this seat once in 2003.
The last date of filing nomination papers is June 21, while the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is June 26. Votes will be counted on July 13. PTI ADU MAS KRK
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