Whoever wins Betul, rules Madhya Pradesh: A look at state's bellwether constituency

With Madhya Pradesh set to go to polls on Wednesday, all the eyes will be on the Betul Assembly constituency which has earned the reputation of being a bellwether seat as to which party would win the elections in the state. Except in 1980, the party which bagged Betul has ended up being the ruling the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly.

BJP supporters hold cutouts of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Photo: AFP (File)

BHOPAL: With Madhya Pradesh set to go to polls on Wednesday, all the eyes will be on the Betul Assembly constituency which has earned the reputation of being a bellwether seat as to which party would win the elections in the state. Except in 1980, the party which bagged Betul has ended up being the ruling the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly. This time, Betul is witnessing a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress with the saffron party renominating Hemant Khandelwal (54), a former MP and sitting MLA against Congress's Nilay Vinod Daga (40). However, a BJP rebel, contesting on the ticket of the newly-formed Sapaks Party, has made the contest interesting. Daga is the son of former MLA Vinod Daga and Khandelwal is the son of four-term former MP Vijay Khandelwal representing Betul parliamentray constituency. In the 2013 Assembly polls, BJP's Hemant Khandelwal won by defeating Congress's Hemant Wagadre by a margin of 24,347 votes. Khandelwal got 82,949 votes while Wagadre got 58,602 votes. The BJP ended up winning 165 seats in the assembly elections. In 2008, BJP's Alkesh Arya won, while in 2003 BJP's Shiv Prasad Rathore defeated Vinod Daga, the father of Congress nominee Nilay Daga. The BJP wrested power from the Congress in 2003 by winning 173 seats and retained the state with 143 seats in 2008.

Betul elected Congress candidate in 1993 and 1998. Congress' Vinod Daga defeated Shiv Prasad Rathore of the BJP by 9,406 votes in 1998. In 1993, Ashok Sable, contesting on Congress ticket won against BJP's Bhagwat Patel by 10, 460 votes. In 1993 and 1998 and the Congress then formed the government in the state with Digvijay Singh as Chief Minister. In the 1990 Assembly polls, BJP came to power with Sunder Lal Patwa as Chief Minister and the Betul Assembly constituency had then elected BJP's Bhagwat Patel. Except in the 1980 Assembly election, Betul has always voted for the party which formed the government in state. In that election, BJP's Madhav Gopal Naseri won from Betul but the Congress formed the government by wining 240 seats in the 320-member Assembly. In the 1977 polls, Betul elected Naseri as an independent candidate and the Janata Party swept the polls by winning 230 seats. Kailash Joshi then became the chief minister. In the 1967 Assembly polls, Betul elected G. Khandelwal of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) and Samyukta Vidhayak Dal formed the government in the state. Govind Narayan Singh, who formed a new political party called Lok Sewak Dal after quitting the Congress, became the chief minister. From 1951 to 1962, Congress had won in Betul and had formed governments during those elections. (With inputs from IANS)