Setback for Congress as Indore Lok Sabha candidate Akshay Bam backs out, joins BJP

Senior BJP leader and state cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya posted a picture on his X account in which Bam was seen sitting in a car with him.

Akshay Kanti Bam, the Congress’s candidate for the Indore Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, withdrew his nomination on Monday, dealing a big blow to the party just days ahead of polling. He later joined BJP.

Indore collector Ashish Singh confirmed that Bam has withdrawn his nomination.

Senior BJP leader and state cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya posted a picture on his X account in which Bam was seen sitting in a car with him.

The local BJP MLA, Ramesh Mendola, was also seen accompanying them in the car.

इंदौर से कांग्रेस के लोकसभा प्रत्याशी श्री अक्षय कांति बम जी का माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी, राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष श्री @JPNadda जी, मुख्यमंत्री @DrMohanYadav51 जी व प्रदेश अध्यक्ष श्री @vdsharmabjp जी के नेतृत्व में भाजपा में स्वागत है। pic.twitter.com/1isbdLXphb

— Kailash Vijayvargiya (Modi Ka Parivar) (@KailashOnline) April 29, 2024

Vijayvargiya welcomed him to the party in a post on X.

"Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore Akshay Kanti Bam is welcome to the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party national president JP Nadda, chief minister Mohan Yadav and state president VD Sharma," Vijayvargiya said.

Bam, 45, was fielded by Congress against BJP MP Shankar Lalwani from the Indore seat.

The constituency has been a stronghold of BJP, which has been winning the general election from Indore since 1989. It was earlier represented by Sumitra Mahajan.

The constituency will go to polls on May 13 in the fourth phase of the elections.

The 2024 election was supposed to be the maiden contest for Bam, who has not contested any election in his political career so far.

The Congress offered him the opportunity to contest from Indore at a time when several party workers, including three former MLAs of the party, have switched sides and joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Indore, the largest constituency in the state in terms of number of voters, has 25.13 lakh electors.

The BJP has expressed confidence of winning the seat by a margin of eight lakh votes this time.

Notably, the BJP already won the Lok Sabha seat of Surat in Gujarat earlier this month when all others withdrew their nomination while the EC rejected the nomination papers of the Congress candidate.

(With inputs from PTI)