Many polItICal SCIonS BIte the duSt In Mp

In Madhya Pradesh, both BJP and the Congress did not shy away from giving tickets to dynasts and people who come from a political family. Of the more than 30 such candidates who were given ticket by the BJP, including sitting MLAs, 14 lost the elections. Similarly for Congress, of the 17 such candidates, including sitting MLAs, 7 lost at the hustings.

Archana Chitnis, who was a minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and whose father Brijmohan Mishra is a former Assembly Speaker, lost from Burhanpur seat. She is among the 11 ministers of Shivraj Cabinet who lost the election.

Similarly, Hemant Khandelwal, son of former BJP MP Vijay Khandelwal, lost from Betul. Rakesh Singh, whose father Dilip Singh used to be a BJP MLA, lost from Bhind while Deepak Joshi, son of former Chief Minister Kailash Joshi, who was also a minister, lost from Hatpipliya segment.

In Niwas constituency, Rampyare Kulaste, younger brother of former Union minister and Mandla MP Faggan Singh Kulaste, too could not register a win while Jitendra Gehlot, son of Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, lost from Alot seat.

In Nepanagar, BJP candidate Manju Dadu, who is the daughter of former BJP MLA late Rajendra Dadu, too could not win. While in Bhitarwar, Anoop Mishra, who is the nephew of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was given a ticket despite losing in 2013, again lost this time.

As for Congress, Ajay Singh, Leader of Opposition and son of party stalwart late Arjun Singh, lost from Churhat, a loss which has almost ended his political career and possibly his chance to acquire the CM’s chair. He was defeated by BJP’s Shardendu Tiwari who is relatively junior to him and comes from a nonpolitical family. Similarly, Saraswati Singh, daughter of former Congress MLA Patiraj Singh, too lost from Chitrangi seat. Hemant Katare, son of former Home Minister and Leader of Opposition late Satyadev Katare, too lost from Ater seat. Populist schemes, improved electricity supply and nascent Telangana sentiment have given TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) a spectacular victory in the 7 December Assembly elections. He not only improved his 2014 tally of seats from 63 to 88 out of the total 119, but also increased his vote share from around 34% to a little over 49%.

The Opposition Congress led Mahakutami, which dreamt of unseating KCR, had to put up with 21 seats (Congress 19 and TDP 2, while two other constituents, TJS and CPI drew a zero), and couldn’t retain their previous tally of 22 and 15 seats respectively. AIMIM retained its seven seats, but BJP ended up with one seat, losing four it won last time.

Several of Congress stalwarts and CM aspirants like K. Jana Reddy (Nagarjunasagar), Komatireddy Venkat Reddy (Nalgonda), D.K. Aruna (Gadwal), Ponnala Lakshmaiah ( Jangaoan) and Damodara Raja Narsimha (Andole-SC) were defeated