- Lahar seat of Bhind district is in control of Congress since last seven elections
- This time, planning being done in a visionary manner by taking lessons from results of previous elections
Harish Dubey, Gwalior
To hoist the victory flag this time on the Lahar assembly seat of Bhind district — which has been held by the Congress for the last seven elections — BJP’s strategists have taken lessons from the results of the previous elections and are planning in a very far-sighted manner. Since the sitting MLA of Lahar and state opposition leader Dr. Govind Singh has been a staunch opponent of Jyotiraditya Scindia — the big stalwart of the region’s politics, who joined BJP from Congress — serious consideration is being given to giving the responsibility of winning Lahar seat — which is considered a difficult seat in the BJP’s electoral map — to the Scindia camp. There are chances that a loyal leader from the Scindia camp may be fielded on this seat. These possibilities were discussed during Scindia’s recent stay in Gwalior. It would not be surprising if a grassroots Scindia supporter is fielded in this seat of Chambal to contest against the Leader of Opposition. Talking about the previous elections, in the years 2013 and 18, BJP had fielded former MLA Rasal Singh from here but he could not win. In 2018, Rasal Singh got 53040 votes and Govind Singh got 62113 votes, thus Govind Singh won the election by 9073 votes. Earlier in 2013, Rasal Singh had got 46739 votes and Govind Singh had got 53012 votes. The special thing is that in all the assembly elections held in Lahar in the last two decades, BSP has proved and established itself as an important force determining the election outcome. In the elections of 2008, 13 and 18, BSP played its bet on Brahmin faces and among the Kshatriya candidates of Congress-BJP, Brahmin candidates of BSP gathered a lot of votes. In 2018, Ambrish Sharma Guddu, who contested on BSP ticket, secured 31367 votes while Romesh Mahant, the candidate of the same party in 2013, secured 34585 votes. In 2008, BSP had pushed BJP to the third position here, then BJP candidate Munnidevi Tripathi got only 2918 votes while BSP’s Romesh Mahant was at second position by securing around 52,867 votes. In this most difficult election of his political career, Dr. Govind Singh could win by only 5,000 votes.
Govind Singh manages to get seats even in difficult challenging situations – The interesting thing is that Ambrish Guddu and Romesh Mahant, who have demonstrated their personal base by contesting elections several times on BSP ticket, are now not only in BJP but are also in the front row in the ticket race.
BJP had contested Ambrish Sharma Guddu from Lahar seat in 2003 but his performance was not as per the expectations of the party and he got only 8621 votes. The problem with BJP is that whoever the party gives the ticket to, the other ticket-deprived leaders of the same party mobilize and open a front against the authorized candidate and the direct benefit of this is given to the senior Congress leader Dr. Govind Singh and he take away seats even in difficult and challenging elections. Rasal Singh, Ambrish Sharma Guddu and Romesh Mahant, who are trying to get a BJP ticket from Lahar seat, may be in the same party, but the distance between these three is so much that the election manager of the party is already worried about this. If one of them gets the ticket, there is a danger of sabotage from the other two ticket-deprived claimants.
Condition set for giving ticket to a supporter
About a month ago, when Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan came to Lahar to blow the election bugle, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia was also with him. Before this, Scindia had never interfered in Lahar’s politics, not even when Scindia was in Congress. This attitude of the Scindia family has been going on since the last 33 years, when Govind Singh started his unbeaten innings from here as MLA. But now the scenario seems to have changed. There is a greater possibility that Scindia will interfere in the constituency of his arch rival, opposition leader Dr. Govind Singh. BJP strategists have asked Scindia to show the effect of his aura to win the Lahar seat which has been slipping in the hands of BJP for the last three and a half decades, but the news is that Scindia has said that he will take command in Lahar only if someone loyal to him is given a BJP ticket. Scindia has also proposed the name of a leader from his side. This leader had left Congress and joined BJP along with Scindia.
