BJP releases fifth list of 92 candidates for MP polls; names 83 more candidates for Rajasthan

Bhopal, Oct 21: The BJP on Saturday released a fifth list of 92 candidates for the next month’s MP assembly polls dropping sitting Indore-3 MLA Akash Vijayvargiya, son of the party stalwart Kailash Vijayvargiya who is in the fray from the Indore-1 segment.
While, the safron party named 83 more candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly polls, including former chief minister Vasundhara Raje from her traditional Jhalrapatan seat.
Fifty incumbent MLAs have been given tickets while nine have not been renominated by BJP, which has also not named any MP in the second list. Of the 83 candidates, 10 are women.
In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP has fielded Rakesh Golu Shukla from the Indore-3 constituency in place of Akash Vijayvargiya. Shukla is the cousin of Sanjay Shukla, the Congress legislator from Indore-1.
Kailash Vijayvargiya had said on October 16 that Akash had written to BJP president JP Nadda requesting not to consider him for the ticket this time as the party had fielded his father.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s nephew Anup Mishra has also been denied a ticket – he was apparently vying for Gwalior South. MP ex-minister Narayan Singh Kushwaha has been nominated for the seat. Mishra had unsuccessfully contested the last state polls from the Bhitarwar constituency in Gwalior.
Twenty-nine MLAs, including ministers OPS Bhadoriya, Yashodhara Scindia, and Gaurishankar Bisen, have been dropped, while 37 lawmakers have again made to the party’s latest list. Scindia has already shown her unwillingness to fight elections citing health reasons.
The ruling party has so far declared 228 out of 230 candidates for the forthcoming elections except for the Guna and Vidisha seats.
The latest list includes the names of 12 women candidates, including former state ministers Maya Singh and Archana Chitnis from the Gwalior East and Burhanpur assembly segments, respectively. Incumbent minister Usha Thakur is renominated from the Mhow seat.
The single phase polling for 230 seats will be held on November 17 and counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.
Among the other prominent candidates who featured on the fifth list are former state ministers Jayant Malaiya (75) and Surendra Patwa, nephew of MP ex-chief minister Sunderlal Patwa.
Malaiya lost to Congress’ Rahul Singh Lodhi in the 2018 polls. In the 2020 bypoll necessitated by Lodhi’s resignation from Congress and subsequent movement to BJP, Malaiya was denied a ticket. However, Lodhi lost the bypoll after joining the BJP.
Besides Malaiya, the saffron party has pitted sitting MLA Sitasaran Sharma (73) against his brother and Congress nominee Girija Shankar Sharma from Narmadapuram. Girija represented the constituency twice in 2003 and 2008 as a BJP MLA. He joined the Congress last month.
Meanwhile, the BJP has so far named 124 candidates for the November 25 polls to the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly.
Some of the supporters of Raje, including two former state ministers, have also been given tickets.
The saffron party has decided to field Narpat Singh Rajvi from Chittorgarh after its earlier decision to deny the five-term MLA, who is the son-in-law of BJP stalwart Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, renomination from his Vidhyadhar Nagar seat.
This triggered a backlash from a section of party workers. The BJP leadership’s about turn on Rajvi’s candidature is being seen as a damage-control exercise after the latter reacted angrily and cited his family legacy to hit out at the party.
The names also include Vishwaraj Singh Mewar, a descendent of Maharana Pratap Singh, who joined the party recently. He has been fielded from Nathdwara, which was won by veteran Congress leader C P Joshi in 2018. Former state BJP chief Satish Poonia has been fielded from Amber, the seat he currently represents in the Assembly.
Rajendra Rathore, the BJP’s leader in the Assembly, has also been given a ticket. However, his constituency has been changed from Churu to Taranagar. A seven-time MLA, Rathore represented Taranagar in the Assembly for just one term, from 2008 to 2013.
Former Nagaur MP Jyoti Mirdha, who joined the BJP last month, has been fielded from Nagaur. (PTI)