Bhopal, March 20 The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Sidhi Lok Sabha seat in the Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh, Rajesh Mishra, filed his nomination papers on Wednesday. The BJP has fielded Mishra from Sidhi as the two-time sitting MP Riti Pathak won the Assembly elections in November last year.
Before filing the nomination paper for the coming Lok Sabha election, a massive road show was held in Sidhi, which was attended by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Deputy CM Rajendra Shukla, minister Prahlad Singh Patel and several other BJP leaders.
Addressing the rally, CM Mohan Yadav said that the BJP has always got support from the people of Sidhi, and he was confident that the BJP will win this seat for the fourth consecutive time.
He also took a jibe at the Congress for the delay in announcing candidates for the remaining 18 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh. "The Congress is facing an internal rift which is delaying the list of candidates. The Congress top leadership is busy in road shows, instead of preparing for the Lok Sabha elections," Yadav said.
The Congress has declared its candidates for 10 out of the 29 Parliamentary constituencies in the state. The Congress has given the Khajuraho constituency to the Samajwadi Party (SP). The grand old party is expected to announce it's candidates for the remaining 18 seats soon.
The Congress has already fielded former minister Kamaleshwar Patel from the Sidhi Lok Sabha seat. Patel, who is the son of ex-minister Indrajeet Patel, had lost the assembly election from Sihawal (in Sidhi district) in November last year.
Dr. Mishra, who is popular due to his medical services to the people for the last several years, will have an edge mainly for two reasons --- being a BJP candidate and the party having won this seat in the last three consecutive elections.
Kamaleshwar Patel, after suffering a stunning defeat by the BJP's Vishwamitra Pathak in the assembly election, will be in survival mode. His win in the Lok Sabha election will give him some relief but for that he would need the support of the Congress leaders at the local level.
RP Mishra, a local politician from Sidhi said, "To say that only Kamaleshwar Patel may face the rift among his party leaders would be a wrong analysis, because there are several BJP leaders who are unhappy after Rajesh Mishra's name was announced from Sidhi."
Spanning eight assembly segments of three districts -- Sidhi, Singrauli and part of Shahdol -- the Sidhi Lok Sabha seat has a mixed record. So far, the BJP and the Congress have each won 7-7 Lok Sabha elections, but the BJP has won last three consecutive elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019.
In the last general election, the BJP's Riti Pathak, who is now a MLA from Sidhi assembly constituency, had defeated Ajay Singh 'Rahul', son of ex-CM Arjun Singh, with a margin of over one lakh votes.
So far, it seems a bi-polar contest between the BJP and the Congress. However, the BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Pratap Singh, who recently resigned from the party's primary membership, is also likely to contest as an Independent, which will lead to a triangular contest for the Sidhi Lol Sabha seat.
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