As Madhya Pradesh Assembly candidates made the dash for filing nominations on the last day of filing papers, the final state-wide tally of nominees for the 230 seats appeared inching closer to 3,000 even as officials of state CEO remained busy till late evening collecting details from all districts. In 2018, there were 3,800 candidates are in the fray for the 230-seat assembly.
The last day of filing nomination saw many leaders resorted to show of strength as they took out large marches up to the offices of returning officers. Those who filed nominations included BJP’s Kailash Vijayvargiya from Indore-1 and Congress candidate Vikram Mastal, a TV actor who has played the character of Hanuman in mythological teleserials, who has challenged Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni seat.
Exuding confidence of beating the Chief Minister, Mastal said he will expose the hollow development model that the Chouhan government has been showcasing before the people of the state.
On the last day of filing nomination, Congress Chief Minister candidate Kamal Nath announced a free health checkup scheme for senior citizen while his party colleague Supriya Shrinate accused the Chouhan government of fudghing state’s GDP figures.
The BJP countered with Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari, accompanying a party nominee in filing of papers, called the Congress “unholy” for supporting Hamas while the whole world was supporting Israel against the terror organisation.
Vijayvargiya attacked Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh saying they will fly out of the country after the BJP wrests over 160 seats in the November 17 election.
Shrinate targeted the BJP government’s development model alleging that the Chouhan had conducted a scam of Rs 2-2.5 crore.
“Each citizen of the state is under the burden of Rs 40,000 debt,” she said, the statement has fudged the growth rate of the state. She claimed the state is under Rs 4 lakh crore debt. She alleged the debt rate has risen 15% raised despite the fact that the revenue rate is 10%.
Hitesh Vajpayee of the BJP dismissed the charges of the Congress and said the Public Accounts Committee of the state headed by a Congress leader P C Sharma or PCC chief Kamal Nath had never mentioned about these issues.
The developments in the election-bound state took another turn with state Congress leaders confirming that the central leadership had called state leaders to sort out reported internal friction.
Vajpayee dismissed allegations of the Congress and said due to development work done in the state 1.36 lakh people of the state have emerged from poverty.
Today marks the final day for filing nominations for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. In Jabalpur, the atmosphere was charged as candidates filled their nomination forms in the eight constituencies.
Both BJP and Congress candidates arrived at the Collectorate for their nomination rallies and submitted their nomination forms. Candidates from the North Madhya Pradesh Assembly constituency seemed to draw more attention during the nomination filing.
BJP leader, Kamlesh Agrawal, also submitted his nomination form. Meanwhile, AIMIM candidate Gajendra Sonkar from the former Assembly constituency also filed his nomination. MP and BJP candidate Rakesh Singh arrived to submit his final nomination form and stated that the BJP stands united with full determination.
Responding to questions about internal dissent within the BJP, Rakesh Singh clarified that no one has resigned, and they are all fighting the elections together. Congress candidate Lakhan Ghanghoriya also claimed victory. Commenting on AIMIM’s entry into the former Assembly constituency, Lakhan Ghanghoriya said that the people are well aware, and they will vote for Congress.
BJP sources said that Shah will hold a meeting of party heads of eight districts of Gwalior Chambal. They will discuss the upcoming strategy after taking information about the preparations made so far for the elections and will also finalize it. Sources also said that in this meeting, District Presidents of all the districts, General Secretaries, District Convenors appointed for the elections, Assembly Convenors will be present.
The BJP candidates for the 34 assembly seats of the Gwalior-Chambal region were not invited to the meeting. Approximately 350 people, including assembly in-charges, booth in-charges, coordinators, district presidents, MPs, and former MLAs, attended the meeting.
