Early trends favouring the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls suggest that fielding MPs and Union ministers have succeeded in garnering support on ground.
The central leadership’s experimental move was aimed at strengthening the organisational muscle, encourage new state-level leadership, and counter anti-incumbency.
This decision followed the party’s setback in the Karnataka elections, despite extensive campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers, and BJP chief ministers from various states.
Here’s a look at the party’s central leaders fielded from the state:
Narendra Singh Tomar: The Union minister for agriculture, considered one of the key members of his party, was fielded from the Dimani constituency against Congress’ Ravindra Singh Tomar, despite his initial reluctance.
As a Rajput leader, he was appointed head of the BJP campaign committee in the state to craft a focused campaign against anti-incumbency. Previously, Tomar represented the Morena Lok Sabha seat from 2009 to 2014, Gwalior from 2014 to 2019, and was later re-elected as MP from Morena in 2019.
Tomar started his political journey as a student leader when he was elected as the president of the Government College Murar Students’ Union in 1979-80. He has also served as a councillor in the Gwalior Municipal Corporation from 1983 to 1987. He also served as an MLA in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly from 1998 to 2008 and held a cabinet minister position from 2003 to 2007.
Prahdlad Singh Patel: Known as a prominent OBC leader, the Union minister of state for food processing was fielded from Narsinghpur, replacing his brother Jalam Singh Patel, a sitting MLA who had won twice from the same seat.
Prahlad Singh, a five-time MP, was brought into state politics to sway voters in neighboring seats, especially since the party had lost three out of four seats in Narsinghpur district in 2018.
He represents the Damoh Lok Sabha seat and was initially elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989, then re-elected in the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996, the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999, and the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014.
The electoral battle in Narsingpur has witnessed varying victory margins in the last three elections, with the largest margin in 2013, where Jalam Singh won with a 48,481-vote lead.
Faggan Singh Kulaste: The Union minister of state for rural development, was fielded from the Niwas constituency of Madhya Pradesh. Representing the Mandla Lok Sabha constituency, Kulaste has consecutively held an MP position for six terms from 1996 to 2019.
The Niwas Assembly segment in Mandla comprises around 2.5 lakh registered voters and saw a 79 percent voter turnout in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, Dr Ashok Maskole of the Congress emerged victorious, securing 91,007 votes. Singh has also served as Union minister of state for parliamentary affairs and tribal affairs (1999 to 2004) under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
He initially became the MLA in 1990 in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly from the Niwas constituency.
Kailash Vijayvargiya: Considered one of the strongest candidates in Madhya Pradesh, is the former mayor of Indore and was once again fielded from this seat.
A six-time legislator, Vijayvargiya has never lost an Assembly election from his constituency. Before his elevation to the central leadership of the party, he was a member of the state cabinet for 12 years.
He faces Congress leader Sanjay Shukla, who won the polls in 2018. As a national general secretary, Vijayvargiya was also in charge of the party’s election strategy in West Bengal.
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