MP election 2023: Congress identifies 106 candidates for upcoming polls

The Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has identified 106 candidates for the upcoming Assembly election in the state, reported Hindustan Times (HT), citing a senior Congress leader.

Of the 106 candidates, 66 will be competing in seats that the party has not won in the last three assembly elections and are strongholds of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The other 40 are sitting MLAs. The party has another 56 sitting lawmakers (the house has 230 members), but it believes these MLAs must accomplish more before being confirmed as candidates.

Notably, the party has not formally named any candidates.

Speaking on the development, Madhya Pradesh Congress Chief Kamal Nath said the people identified have been informed and that there is no need to announce their names publicly.

The Congress won 114 seats in the late-2018 Assembly election and formed the government. However, 28 lawmakers loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party in March 2020, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government and the BJP’s return to power after only 15 months. The BJP subsequently won 19 out of 28 Assembly seats in the by-polls in November 2020. Except for those 15 months, the BJP has been in power in the state since 2003.

“The candidates have been directed to campaign in their respective assembly seats. They were identified to end the ticket distribution dispute and prevent last-minute infighting. The workers and office bearers have also been asked to support the candidates,” a second Congress leader told HT.

The Congress claims that the decision was based on a survey of candidates, constituencies, and factors in caste.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson KK Mishra stated, “We will win this election through micro-management and social engineering, which is why candidates who performed the best in the survey have been informed that their names have been finalised.”

However, the BJP mocked the decision, alleging the tickets had been sold out. “First and foremost, which names have been finalised by the Congress-- Rahul Gandhi’s, Digvijaya Singh’s or Kamal Nath’s? The fact that the Congress sells tickets is well known. These 106 must have made the highest bid, but it will have no effect on the result of the election,” said Ashish Agrawal, media in-charge, MP BJP.