Bhopal, Mar 27 (PTI) As many as 113 candidates, including those of the ruling BJP and opposition Congress, have filed nominations for six Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh, where polling is scheduled in the first phase on April 19, a top poll official said on Wednesday.
BJP candidate and Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste (Mandla), Congress nominee and sitting MP Nakul Nath (Chhindwara) are among the contestants who have submitted their nominations to election authorities.
On the last day of filing nominations on Wednesday, 64 candidates submitted papers across the seats covered in the first phase of polling, Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan said.
Rajan said scrutiny of forms will take place on Thursday and candidates can withdraw their nominations till March 30.
In the first phase on April 19, Sidhi, Shahdol (ST), Jabalpur, Mandla (ST), Balaghat and Chhindwara seats will go to polls. Sidhi (22 candidates), Shahdol (ST) – ten candidates, Jabalpur (22), Mandla (ST) – 16 candidates, Balaghat (19) and Chhindwara (24) saw filing of nominations by contestants, officials said.
The Congress has renominated its sitting MP Nakul Nath from Chhindwara, where the BJP has fielded Vivek Bunty Sahu. Chhindwara was the only Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh that was won by the Congress in 2019.
The BJP has renominated Union minister Kulaste from Mandla, where the Congress candidate is former state minister Omkar Singh Markam. The Congress has fielded sitting MLA from Dindori. Kulaste was fielded in the last year’s assembly elections, but faced defeat from Niwas in Mandla district.
In Jabalpur, Ashish Dubey of the BJP and Dinesh Yadav of the Congress are new faces. Jabalpur’s former Lok Sabha MP Rakesh Singh was fielded in the assembly elections last year and he went on to win. He is now a minister in the state cabinet.
The BJP has fielded a new face, Rajesh Mishra, in Sidhi, where the Congress has given ticket to Kamleshwar Patel, a former minister.
In Shahdol, the BJP has renominated current MP Himadri Singh, while the Congress has fielded sitting MLA (Pushprajgarh) Phundelal Marko from the seat. The BJP has fielded a corporator, Bharti Pardhi, from Balaghat, where the Congress has nominated its district unit president Samrat Singh. PTI ADU RSY
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