Madhya Pradesh polls: BJP banks on top guns, Chouhan still not fielded in second list of candidates

Ruling BJP releases second list of 39 candidates for MP polls; three Union ministers, Vijayvargiya in the fray

With BJP naming one more candidate Monika Batti from Amanwara (ST) seat for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections on September 26, chief minister Shivraj Chouhan said BJP is on its way to victory in the state.

The party’s second list, released on September 25 night, packed big surprises. Three Union ministers, four MPs and a national general secretary were named as candidates. Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste will now contest the Madhya Pradesh elections, along with MPs Rakesh Singh (former state BJP president), Ganesh Singh, Reeti Pathak and Uday Pratap Singh, apart from general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.

After Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh too slated for a centrally driven BJP poll campaign

"The Congress is perturbed; they can't comprehend what is happening,” Chouhan told news agency  PTI.

According to NDTV, Vijayvargiya will be contesting state polls after a decade. He won the Mhow seat of Indore district for the second time in 2013. Tomar will contest the Vidhan Sabha elections after two decades. He last won the assembly polls from Gwalior for the second time in a row in 2003. The report stated that BJP may also be trying to strike a balance between its various senior regional leaders on the election battlefield to extract the most out of their experience and influence.

Meanwhile, it is being speculated that Chouhan, the state’s longest-serving chief minister, might not feature in BJP’s plans for the upcoming elections. According to Indian Express, the party has been worried about fatigue setting in regarding Chouhan. The report stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his recent rally in Madhya Pradesh did not mention Chouhan at all.

“We had a feeling that Vijayvargiya may contest, but the fielding of Union ministers was a surprise. To be honest, we don’t know who will be the next CM now,” sources close to Chouhan told Indian Express.

Till now BJP has named 76 candidates but there are 154 seats still up for grabs. The first list with 39 names was released on August 18.

In the 2018 polls, the Congress won 114 seats against the BJP's 109 and the former formed government under Kamal Nath. It fell in March 2020 after a rebellion by MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia, paving the way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan to return as CM.

Following bypolls due to legislators switching sides after the rebellion, the BJP now has 126 seats in the House, while the Congress has 96.

The assembly polls are likely to be held at the end of the year.