Guna To Vidisha: Key Seats In Madhya Pradesh To Watch Out For In Lok Sabha Polls

Of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, the electoral battle in Guna, where Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is in the fray to wrest the seat he lost in 2019, will a key fight in the poll arena.

Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh will be held in four phases on April 19, April 26, May 7 and May 13. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 28 out of 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress got one seat. BJP leaders have expressed confidence that this time the party will win all Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Following are the key Lok Sabha seats to watch out for in Madhya Pradesh: 1. Guna: This seat has been the Scindia family's bastion. In 2019, the Congress suffered a big upset when Jyotiraditya Scindia lost to BJP's K P Singh Yadav by 1.26 lakh votes.

In 2020, Scindia joined the BJP and some Congress MLAs also quit, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in the state.

Scindia, now Union Civil Aviation Minister, is BJP's candidate from Guna Lok Sabha seat, which was represented six times by his grandmother and BJP stalwart Vijaya Raje Scindia and four times by his father and Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia.

2. Chhindwara: This seat in the Mahakoshal region has since 1980 been a stronghold of former chief minister Kamal Nath, who represented it nine times. His wife Alka Nath won it in 1996 and son Nakul Nath bagged it in 2019.

All seven assembly seats under Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency are currently held by the Congress. The BJP won this parliamentary seat only once in the last seven decades when former chief minister Sundarlal Patwa defeated Kamal Nath in 1997.

3. Vidisha: Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is entering Lok Sabha poll arena after a gap of two decades, and will contest his sixth parliamentary election from Vidisha.

This seat was earlier held by BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1991) and Sushma Swaraj (2009 and 2014).

Chouhan's home turf Budhni is part of Vidisha Lok Sabha seat, a BJP citadel which the Congress won only twice (1980 and 1984) since 1967.

4. Bhopal: After 1989, BJP has never faced defeat in Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, which includes Bhopal and neighbouring Sehore district.

The Bhopal seat has been represented by BJP leaders Uma Bharti (1999) and former CM Kailash Joshi (2004 and 2009). BJP's Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in Malegaon blast case, defeated Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal in 2019 by 3.65 lakh votes. The BJP has not re-nominated her this time.

5. Mandla: BJP leader Faggan Singh Kulaste lost the November 2023 assembly elections which he contested while he was a Union minister and Lok Sabha member from Mandla seat. The party has once more fielded him from the same seat.

Since 1996, Kulaste has won all Lok Sabha elections from this seat, except in 2009, when Congress candidate Basori Singh Masram defeated him.

Congress has fielded sitting MLA from Dindori and former minister Omkar Singh Markam from Mandla against Kulaste.

6. Tikamgarh: Union minister Virendra Kumar is the sitting MP from Tikamgarh (SC) seat in the Bundelkhand region bordering Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has fielded him from this constituency for the fourth time. He won this seat in 2004, 2014 and 2019.

Congress has fielded Pankaj Ahirwar against Kumar. Ahirwar is the president of Congress SC Cell's Tikamgarh unit.

7. Khjurahao: The BJP has fielded its state party president Vishnu Dutt Sharma, a Lok Sabha member from Khajuraho, for the second time in a row.

The saffron party has been winning the Khajuraho seat since 2004, with firebrand leader Uma Bharti getting elected for four terms between 1989 and 1998.

In 1999, senior Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi got elected from Khajuraho, while BJP's Ram Krishna Kusumaria won in 2004. It has remained a BJP bastion ever since. 

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