BJP, Congress Workers Protest Against Ticket Distribution In Madhya Pradesh

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress workers staged a protest in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday over the ticket distribution for next month's assembly elections. While BJP workers created a ruckus in front of Union Minister Bhupender Yadav at the party office in Jabalpur, Congress workers burnt the effigies of former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and his MLA son Jaivardhan Singh. 

The protests in Jabalpur erupted after the BJP on Saturday released its fifth list of 92 candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. The supporters of BJP aspirant Dheeraj Pateria and former minister Sharad Jain created a ruckus at the party office after Abhilash Pandey got the ticket from the Jabalpur North seat. The angry party workers also clashed with Mr Yadav's gunman.

Slogans were also raised against the sitting MLA and former speaker Sitasaran Sharma from Narmadapuram.

In Chaurai, Chhindwara party workers opposed the candidature of Lakhan Verma, while in Nagaud, the demonstration was staged against ticket distribution to former minister Nagendra Singh and Pratima Bagri.

The BJP candidate list also excluded sitting Indore-3 MLA Akash Vijayvargiya, who is the son of BJP veteran Kailash Vijayvargiya. 

The BJP has so far declared 228 out of 230 candidates for the November 17 elections, with only the Guna and Vidisha seats remaining to be confirmed.

Angry Congress workers

Congress workers burnt the effigies of Digvijay Singh and Jaivardhan Singh objecting to the names of party candidates from seats like Burhanpur, Shujalpur, Seoni-Malwa, Semaria, and Jaora. 

They also burnt an effigy of Himmat Shrimal, who had been given a ticket from Jaora in the Ratlam district. 

Congress workers also raised slogans and protested against the candidature given to Ramveer Singh Sikarwar from the Shujalpur assembly segment in the Shajapur district. They alleged that he was involved in the liquor business. 

State Congress Vice President Damodar Singh Yadav resigned after not getting enough tickets for candidates of the Other Backward Class category.

Workers at Shujalpur raised slogans outside Kamal Nath's bungalow and showed black flags to former minister Deepak Joshi -- who switched from the BJP to Congress -- and broke the glass of his car. 

In Mhow as well, supporters of former MLA Antar Singh Darbar took to the streets after Congress released its second list of candidates on Thursday. 

Congress has so far announced 229 candidates for the elections to the 230-member assembly.

BJP candidate list

The BJP on Saturday released its fifth list of 92 candidates. 29 MLAs, including three ministers and a Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist minister, were dropped. Mr Scindia's aunt was also dropped as she had opted out of polls on health grounds.

Veteran minister Gaurishankar Bisen was replaced by daughter Mausam from the Balaghat seat. 

Five ministers, including three Scindia loyalists, were fielded again from their respective seats. Congress stalwart Sriniwas Tiwari's grandson Siddharth also made it to the list.

Ex-ministers Maya Singh and Jayant Malaiya (both in their 70s) have also been named in the list.

Congress candidate list

The Congress on Thursday released a second list of 88 candidates for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh polls and rewarded five former BJP leaders who joined the party in the last few months. Deepak Joshi, ex-MLAs Girja Shankar Sharma, Bhawar Singh Shekhawat and Abhay Mishra and former Jyotiraditya Scindia-loyalist Samandar Patel have been named in the list.

Ex-Assembly speaker and sitting MLA NP Prajapati, who was denied a ticket from his Gotegaon-SC seat in the first list, was fielded from the same seat in the second list, while Arvind Singh Lodhi replaced Shailendra Singh from the Pichhore seat. 

Ex-MLA Rajendra Bharti was named from the Datia seat in place of former BJP leader Avdhesh Nayak.