The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has unveiled its fourth candidate list for the forthcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly election, reaffirming its confidence in Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who will be contesting from his longstanding Budhni constituency. This strategic move comes in the wake of speculations suggesting a potential sidelining of the incumbent Chief Minister within the party.
The list includes the candidature of Madhya Pradesh’s Home Minister, Narottam Mishra, who will be contesting from the Datia Assembly constituency. In total, the BJP has announced candidates for 57 seats as part of this list, further solidifying its election strategy.
Earlier, the BJP had released the names of several union ministers and senior party leaders in its initial three candidate lists for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election, which had prompted conjectures about Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s status within the saffron party.
Responding to these reports, Shivraj Singh Chouhan emphasized the unity within the BJP and stated, “All senior leaders in the BJP will contest the Assembly election. This has ensured BJP’s big victory. All our senior leaders will contest…”
During his addresses, Chief Minister Chouhan struck an emotional chord with his supporters, conveying a message of deep connection with the people. He stated, “I don’t run the government. I run a family. You all are my family. You will not find such a brother. You will miss me when I am gone,” in an emotionally charged statement.
The BJP’s central election committee, featuring party chief J P Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and other senior leaders, approved the names of the 57 candidates during its meeting on October 1.
With this announcement, the BJP has now declared its candidates for 136 out of the 230 seats in the Madhya Pradesh assembly.
The upcoming Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to be held on November 17, as part of a series of state elections across India. In the 2018 elections, the Congress secured 114 seats with a vote share of 41.5 percent, while the BJP came in second place, winning 109 seats with a slightly higher vote share of 41.6 percent. The upcoming polls are expected to be closely contested, with both major parties vying for electoral supremacy in the state.
