The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday published the list of 57 candidates for the upcoming state assembly elections, fielding Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from his traditional seat of Budhni.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced the elections schedules for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Madhya Pradesh will go to polls on November 17 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3 along with the four other poll-bound states.
Besides Chouhan, the list also includes Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra who is the BJP candidate from Datia seat. Mishra has often been in the news in recent years for his hardliner statements on Hindutva.
With the latest list, the BJP has so far released the names of 136 candidates for the assembly elections on 230 seats.
The BJP's Central Election Committee comprising BJP President JP Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and other senior leaders had approved the names of these 57 candidates at its meeting on October 1, according to PTI.
The BJP has ruled Madhya Pradesh for the past 18 years now and Shivraj has been the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for 16 years. He first became the chief minister in 2005 and held the post till 2018 when the Congress wrested power from him and Kamal Nath became the Chief Minister. However, Chouhan returned to power in the state in 2020 when a rebellion by Jyotiraditya Scindia —now a Union minister— toppled the Congress government.
While the BJP seeks to wrest power from the Congress party in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, it seeks to retain Madhya Pradesh where it has been paying special attention amid speculation that there could be a change of guard. In a recent statement, Shivraj also hinted at it when he told the public at an event: "Aisa bhaiya nahi milega. Jab chala jaayunga to bohot yaad aayunga. (You will not find a brother like me. You will remember me a lot when I'd be gone.)" Shivraj because of his women-centric schemes over the years has come to be known as 'bhaiya' to women and 'mama' to children as the mother's brother is your 'mama' (maternal uncle).
In what has been interpreted as attempts at tackling anti-incumbency and a revived Congress unit in the state, the BJP has fielded MPs and three Union ministers in the polls so far. The ministers include Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of State for Food Processing and Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel, and MoS for Steel and Rural Development Faggan Singh Kulaste.
