Bhopal: Holding the fort at Chhindwara since 1998, veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath is all set to lose the Lok Sabha (LS) seat Tuesday. By 4.30 pm, Nakul Nath was trailing behind BJP’s Vivek Bunty Sahu by 1,12,199 votes.
Since 1952, the Congress party has had a hold over Chhindwara, barring a short stint of BJP stalwart Sunderlal Patwa, who defeated Kamal Nath in a 1997 by-election. But since then, the seat has firmly remained in the grip of Kamal Nath, who has won nine times from Chhindwara.
In the 2019 LS election, when Congress lost pan-India, with its all-India tally reduced to 52, Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath still managed to win Chhindwara by defeating BJP’s tribal candidate Nathan Shah by a narrow margin of 37,000 votes.
However, on Tuesday, soon after the voting began, Nakul Nath was trailing, and the margin grew as the counting progressed.
Sitting Congress MP Nakul Nath was pitted against Bunty Sahu, the BJP’s Chhindwara unit chief. Bunty Sahu started his political career with the BJP in 2011 as the party’s Yuva Morcha member. Over the years, he rose to head the district’s youth wing before becoming the district president of the BJP. He has unsuccessfully contested twice against Kamal Nath in the 2019 and 2023 assembly elections.
Fighting against Nakul Nath in this Lok Sabha (LS) election, Sahu held an extensive campaign seeking votes door to door in Chhindwara, riding on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the construction of the Ram Mandir.
On the other hand, the rumours of veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath switching over to the BJP ahead of the LS election left voters confused. Afterwards, a string of Congress leaders, including sitting Congress MLA Kamlesh Shah from the Amarwara seat in Chhindwara, switched to the BJP. This exodus further raised questions about the future of the parliamentary seat under the leadership of Congress leader Kamal Nath and his son Nakul Nath.
Even though much of the region remains dominated by the tribals, committed voters of the Congress credit Kamal Nath for the region’s development. However, several viewed his career on the decline with the inability of Congress to form a government at the Centre.
Chhindwara went to polls in the first phase on April 19 with five other parliamentary seats of Madhya Pradesh — Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla and Balaghat.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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