Madhya Pradesh’s tribal region goes to the polls but Indore steals the limelight in fourth phase
The BJP and the Congress are ghting essentially a two-horse race in the eight remaining seats of Madhya Pradesh which go to the polls in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha election on Monday.
The eight seats are Dewas (SC), Ujjain (SC), Ratlam (ST), Khargone (ST), Dhar (ST), Indore, Mandsaur, and Khandwa.
Twenty-one of the total 29 seats have already completed voting in the rst three phases.
All the eight seats that fall under the Malwa-Nimar region are currently being held by the BJP.
The Indore constituency throws up a unique proposition, with the Congress urging the electorate to opt for the “None of the Above” (NOTA) option after its oªcial candidate withdrew his nomination
Keeping up his relentless push for winning 400 seats in the election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remarked in Dhar that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) needed to emerge victorious to stop the Congress from “bringing
back Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir” and putting a “Babri lock” on Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Apart from Mr. Modi’s rallies in Dhar and Khargone, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also campaigned in the State, holding rallies in Ratlam and Khargone.
Both leaders, in their speeches, have tried to draw the support of the tribal people as three seats are reserved for the community that also has a sizeable population in others.
In his rallies, Mr. Gandhi also announced that the Congress, if voted to power, will increase the wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to ₹400 per day.
Apart from the issues of Ram temple and Article 370, Mr. Modi targeted the Congress, accusing it of wanting to give reservation on religious lines.
Call for NOTA
The Congress has uniquely focused its campaign in the Indore Lok Sabha segment for NOTA as the party’s ofcial candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination. The party workers have been running an extensive campaign asking people to vote for NOTA and “teach the BJP a lesson”. The party, which accused the BJP of
“hijacking its candidate and murdering democracy”, has now been organising various events across the constituency, including marches and door-to-door campaigns.
The BJP, meanwhile, has dubbed the Congress’s campaign as “negative politics” and has focused on increasing the vote percentage. It has retained sitting MP Shankar Lalwani from the seat.
Tribal hotspot
The Congress, which had secured a handsome mandate from the Malwa-Nimar region in the 2018 Assembly polls, lost its ground in the region in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2023 Assembly elections.
The party, however, has been attempting to reach out to the tribal community of the region, mainly with the claims that if the BJP returns to power, it will “throw away the Constitution”. Mr. Gandhi, in Khargone, had also said: “If the Constitution gets nished, all the rights you have got will disappear. Your jal, zameen aur jungle (water, land and forest), and reservation and the public sector will all disappear.”
One of the closest contests is expected in Ratlam where former Union Minister and ve-term Congress MP Kanjilal Bhuria takes on BJP candidate and district council president Anita Nagar Singh Chouhan, who is the wife of State Minister Nagar Singh Chouhan. The BJP here denied ticket to its sitting MP, Guman Singh Damor.
The seat, which has over 65% tribal voters, is seeing a tussle between the two sub-groups of the community — Bhil and Bhilala.
While Mr. Bhuria hails from the Bhil community that has about 10 lakh voters, Ms. Chouhan is from the Bhilala group with a voting population of over 2.5 lakh.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s home constituency Ujjain will also be voting in the fourth phase. Mr. Yadav has put his might to ensure the party’s victory here. The BJP has retained its sitting MP Anil Firojiya in the seat.
Dhar constituency is also expected to witness an interesting contest following the Archaeological Survey of India’s survey of the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula complex.