Milind Muzumdar, Indore
The election campaign for 8 seats of Malwa and Nimar ended on Saturday evening. Voting was held on all these seats on Monday. Five seats in this zone fall in the safe category. Of these, three are reserved for tribals and two for Dalits. Among the tribal seats, BJP has a slight lead in Khargone and Dhar, while Congress is looking ahead in Ratlam-Jhabua.
BJP has no problem in any of the other three general seats. There is a direct contest between Congress and BJP in Khandwa and Mandsaur, but BJP is strong on both these seats, whereas in Indore there is no Congress candidate, hence no one has any doubt about BJP’s victory here. It is noteworthy that in the two elections of 2014 and 2019, BJP has been winning all the eight Lok Sabha constituencies continuously.
Ratlam-Jhabua parliamentary constituency
There is a contest between Kantilal Bhuria and Anita Chauhan on this seat reserved for tribals. Anita Chauhan is the wife of state cabinet minister Nagar Singh Chauhan. She is the most educated tribal candidate of BJP. There are 65 percent tribal voters here. Of these, 75 percent are Bhil and the remaining are Bhilala and Korku tribal communities. In the battle of Bhil vs Bhilala, former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria is in a good position because he belongs to the Bhil community. If there is no impact of the Modi wave here then this time Congress can perform better here. Kantilal Bhuria has been MP five times and MLA four times. He has worked in the Central and State Cabinet for a long time. With three exceptions, the Jhabua seat has always been held by the Congress since independence. In 2014, Dilip Singh Bhuria of BJP had won and in 2019, Guman Singh Damor of BJP had won. BJP has fielded Anita Chauhan by canceling the ticket of its sitting MP.
Dhar parliamentary constituency
Dhar parliamentary constituency, which is reserved for tribals, is in the news at the national level these days due to the Bhojshala survey and controversy. In Dhar, Congress’ Radheshyam Muvel is contesting against BJP’s Savitri Thakur. According to the assembly elections, Congress is in a good position but the specialty of Dhar Lok Sabha seat is that the voter pattern here changes in the Lok Sabha elections. This is the reason why BJP seems to be in the lead here at present.
The biggest pit for Congress is the assembly seats of Mhow, Dhar and Badnawar. This seat came into existence in 1962. Since then Bharatiya Jan Sangh and BJP have had influence here. Bharat Singh Chauhan of Bharatiya Jan Sangh won the elections four consecutive times in 1962, 67, 71 and 77. Congress won in 1980, 84 and 89, 91. After this, Congress also won in 2008, but BJP kept winning in 1996, 98, 2004, 2014 and 2019.
Dewas Shajapur
Dewas Shajapur Lok Sabha constituency is reserved for Dalits. BJP has no problem in this seat. Dewas – Congress’s Rajendra Malviya is contesting against BJP’s Mahendra Solanki on Shajapur seat. This seat has been held continuously by Bharatiya Jan Sangh and BJP except in 1980, 84 and 2009. Late Phoolchand Verma has been MP from here four times and current Governor of Karnataka Thaawarchand Gehlot has been MP from here four times. Mahendra Solanki had won from here in 2019, this time also the party has given him the ticket.
Ujjain
Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav’s home constituency Ujjain is also reserved for Dalits. In Ujjain, MLA and Congress candidate Mahesh Parmar is in competition with BJP’s Anil Firozia. BJP’s victory here has a history since the 60s. Satyanarayan Jatiya has been victorious seven times in Ujjain, which is one of the strong bastions of Sangh Parivar. Apart from him, Hukumchand Kachwaha won twice on Bharatiya Jana Sangh ticket. Current MP Anil Firoziya had also won in 2019. In 2014, BJP’s Chintamani Malviya won from here.
Indore Lok Sabha constituency
Both these elections of Indore Lok Sabha constituency are in discussion across the country. On April 29, Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bum withdrew his nomination and joined BJP in Indore, hence there is no fight left here. Congress has started NOTA campaign here, but Congress’s opposition is symbolic. Because even if NOTA gets more votes than the BJP candidate, it cannot win as per the rules. In such a situation, the candidate standing second after NOTA is considered victorious. According to this, it is certain that Shankar Lalwani will be elected for the second consecutive time. The curiosity is that what is the difference between them and NOTA. Sumitra Tai has won elections from here a record 8 times. MP Shankar Lalwani had defeated Congress here in 2019 by about five and a half lakh votes.
Khandwa parliamentary constituency
Khandwa parliamentary constituency under East Nimar is also a strong stronghold of BJP. Here, late Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan had won five times on the BJP ticket. Congress’s Arun Yadav lost from here in 2014 and 2019. This time Congress’s Naresh Patel is contesting against BJP’s sitting MP Dnyaneshwar Patil. BJP has led in Khandwa. Both the candidates here are OBC. OBC tribal and Muslim voters live in majority in Khandwa.
Mandsaur parliamentary constituency
Mandsaur parliamentary constituency bordering Rajasthan is also considered to be the old ground of Sangh Parivar. Chief Ministers of the state like Late Virendra Kumar Saklecha, Late Sunderlal Patwa have been MLAs from Neemuch, Manasa and Javad assembly seats of this parliamentary constituency. From here, late Dr. Laxmi Narayan Pandey contested elections 11 consecutive times on behalf of BJP and won nine times. Here Dilip Singh Gurjar of Congress is contesting against Sudhir Gupta of BJP. Sudhir Gupta is in the fray to become MP for the third time. He had won in 2014 and 2019.
Khargone parliamentary constituency
Khargone parliamentary constituency of West Nimar is also reserved for tribals. This Lok Sabha seat also traditionally has the influence of Sangh Parivar. Here, Por Lal Kharte of Congress is contesting against Gajendra Singh Patel of BJP. Here also BJP has an edge. Barela tribal judges live here. The candidates of both BJP and Congress come from this society. This seat was formed in 1962. If the elections of 1967, 80,84, 99 and 2007 are excluded, then BJP and Jan Sangh are continuously winning from here.
