MP bypolls: BJP, Congress candidates file nomination papers with 'show of strength'
Bhopal (The Uttam Hindu): BJP candidate Ramniwas Rawat, and Congress nominee Rajkumar Patel, filed their nomination papers on Thursday from the Budhni Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh for the November 13 by-elections. Nomination papers were filed with a show of strength from the ruling BJP and opposition Congress and in the presence of top leaders from the state units of both parties. Following the nomination, leaders from both parties levelled allegations at each other and sought public support for the upcoming Assembly by-elections.
The BJP organized a massive roadshow in Vijaypur in support of Ramniwas Rawat. The party's top leadership in the state -- Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state party chief V. D. Sharma, and Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar-- joined Rawat during his nomination and roadshow. Rawat, who is currently the state Forest Minister, has won the Vijaypur Assembly seat six times between 1990 and 2023 on the Congress symbol. He quit the Congress and the Assembly and joined the BJP during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, which necessitated the bypoll.
Addressing the party workers in Vijaypur, CM Yadav asserted that BJP's wave is continuing in Madhya Pradesh, and Ramniwas Rawat would emerge victorious. "Under the BJP government, Madhya Pradesh is witnessing all-around growth and people of Vijaypur will support development," CM Yadav said. Similarly, several senior Congress leaders led by state party chief Jitu Patwari joined the party's candidate Rajkumar Patel for his nomination in the Budhni Assembly seat in Sehore district. Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha, party MLA Ajay Singh, and many other leaders accompanied Patel.
Former MLA Rajkumar Patel was a Minister in the Congress government under the then Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh. He won the Budhni Assembly seat twice in 1993 and 1998. However, he lost to BJP's Rajendra Singh in 2003. However, Rajendra Singh, resigned in 2005 to facilitate Shivraj Singh Chouhan's entry into the Assembly. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is now a Union Minister, continuously won the Budhni Assembly seat from 2006 to 2023 and has remained the Chief Minister four times until 2023. In 2024, the BJP fielded former CM Chouhan in the Lok Sabha polls, and he won by a huge margin. Subsequently, he was made the Union Agriculture Minister and resigned as an MLA from Budhni, necessitating the Assembly bypoll. State Congress Chief Jitu Patwari while addressing party workers during the roadshow, said that it is an opportunity to wrest the Budhni Assembly seat from BJP as Shivraj Singh Chouhan is not in the fray this time.
