Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s Brother-in-law Sanjay Singh Masani who quits the Bhartiya Janta Party and joined the Indian National Congress because he was not given ticket from Waraseoni by the saffron party for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh State Elections.
And, in a welcome gesture, Congress fulfilled his wish for the ticket. But his journey to state assembly from the Waraseoni seats does not seem to be an easy one. Congress has replaced its three-time MLA Pradeep from Waraseoni to accommodate Masani. Jaiswal family had a complete sway over Congress politics in Waraseoni since the 1990s. His father Amritlal Jaiswal fought 1990 and 1993 election on the Congress ticket but lost on both occasions.
But Pradeep had won the election in 1998 even in a strong anti-Congress wave in 2003 and again in 2008 before losing the election in 2013. Pradeep Jaiswal has now thrown a hat in the ring and is in the fray from the Waraseoni seat as an Independent Candidate.
Pradeep Jaiswal lost 2013 Assembly Elections with a margin of over 17,000 votes against the BJP’s Dr. Yogendra Nirmal.
Waraseoni seat is known for higher voter turnouts in polls, more than 80% exercised their franchise in last 3 elections.
Interestingly for Jaiswal, Despite contesting the election as the Independent, he is not facing a shortage of workers or people, indicating he is not easy to defeat for Masani in the ballot game. His wife also campaigned actively with him.
During the election campaign that ends on Monday, Masani has to make extra efforts to convince the electorate that he was as much from Waraseoni as anyone else and would leave no stone unturned to change the face of the area in case he gets a chance to represent the area in the legislative assembly.
There is a long list of ‘rebel’ leaders who are in the fray as an independent candidate, or from other parties when their own party denied a ticket to them. These ‘rebels’ are pitching hard and may spoil the game for parties.
While Congress rebel Pradeep Jaiswal seemed to have made it a prestige war to ensure Masani’s defeat, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also left no stone unturned to see that BJP candidate Dr. Yogendra Nirmal, who had defeated Jaiswal in 2013 election, returns to the assembly again.
Polling to elect 230 assembly seats is underway. The results will be announced on December 11 with other states assembly elections.