Madhya Pradesh Assembly Polls 2023: Kamal Nath files nomination, goes all out to retain his bastion Chhindwara

Kamal Nath represented the constituency in the Lok Sabha for nine consecutive terms

Amid the tussle among Congress, JDU and Samajwadi Party over seat distribution, Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Kamal Nath on October 26 filed a nomination from his turf Chhindwara for the upcoming assembly elections.

On the seat distribution, he told ANI, "We tried (to make an alliance), it was not about seats, the question was which seats. The seats for which our people said that the BJP would benefit, there it could not happen... have filed the nomination from Chhindwara as I am the elected MLA from here. I have complete faith in the voters of Chhindwara. They have not just given me votes, but also love and respect for all these years.”

Chhindwara has been considered the Nath family turf for nearly 40 years. Before he became the chief minister, Kamal Nath represented the constituency in the Lok Sabha for nine consecutive terms. However, in the 1997 Parliamentary by-poll, he faced defeat at the hands of BJP leader Sundar Lal Patwa.

Kamal Nath, the Congress chief minister face in Madhya Pradesh, won his maiden assembly election from Chhindwara in a by-poll in May 2019 after becoming the chief minister in December 2018. In the 2018 assembly election, the Congress won all segments that comprise the parliamentary constituency. Nath also won the by-election to Chhindwara with a margin of 25,837 votes to validate his stay in office. However, in 2021, the Kamal Nath government collapsed when 22 sitting Congress MLAs resigned under the leadership of Jyotiraditya Scindia and joined BJP.

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Nath eventually vacated the seat for his son Nakul in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Carrying forward his father’s legacy, Nakul Nath won from Chhindwara with a margin of roughly 37,800 votes against BJP's tribal leader Nathan Shah.

In the run-up to the polls, Kamal Nath has been presenting the development works done in his home district as ‘Chhindwara Model’ before the tribal communities.  Tribals comprise about 27% of Chhindwara’s population.  Meanwhile, BJP has set an ambitious target of winning the Chhindwara Lok Sabha which it has won only once in a poll since 1952. In 2019, it won all seats in Madhya Pradesh but Chhindwara. Nath will face BJP's Vivek Sahu in Chhindwara.

Also read: It’s a close contest because Congress is weak in too many seats

In August, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced the Hanuman Lok project in Chhindwara which is also home to a 101-foot statue of Lord Hanuman that Nath had built years ago. Last year, the Congress had announced celebrations on Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti in advance. Nath had also recently hosted Dhirendra Krishna Shastri of Bageshwar Dham. Both BJP and Congress leaders visit Shastri.

After Nath was fielded from his turf, the BJP also targeted Nath over his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh violence. “Kamal Nath has done many such works in the country that have divided the society. In these works, the riot of '84 is also a part of it, he is in a suspicious stage in this,” BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya told ANI.

BJP has also been saying that Chhindwara is not someone’s fortress, “Those who think that Chhindwara is their bastion will get a shock in the upcoming elections. We are working on every booth of Chhindwara and it has now become the stronghold of beneficiaries of BJP government schemes,” Madhya Pradesh BJP unit president VD Sharma told Economic Times.

The assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh will be held in the state on November 17. The state will elect legislators from 230 assembly constituencies. The election will be conducted in one phase and the counting will take place on December 3.