Madhya Pradesh Elections: Key Candidates And Constituencies

Madhya Pradesh will vote on Wednesday in an election which indicates a possible nail-biting finish. And the December 11 results will either give the BJP a fourth successive term in power notwithstanding anti-incumbency or give a chance to the opposition Congress to break the saffron party's monopoly over power since 2003.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Photo: Twitter

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh will vote on Wednesday in an election which indicates a possible nail-biting finish. And the December 11 results will either give the BJP a fourth successive term in power notwithstanding anti-incumbency or give a chance to the opposition Congress to break the saffron party's monopoly over power since 2003. Both the parties have left no stone unturned in their intense campaign to storm the traditional bastions and family pocket-boroughs of each other. In 2013, BJP had won 165 seats, Congress 58, BSP had won four and Independents had won three seats. Here’s a look at some of the key faces from the BJP and their constituencies: 1: Budhni Assembly seat: BJP – Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Congress – Arun Yadav The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has fielded former Union Minister and its ex-state chief Arun Yadav against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni assembly constituency. Budhni, over 60 kilometres from state's capital Bhopal, is Chouhan's home turf from where he was first elected as MLA in 1990. This would be the fifth time he will be contesting from the seat, close to his ancestral village of Jait in Sehore. 2: Khurai Assembly seat: BJP – Bhupinder Singh (Home and Transport Minister in MP); Congress – Arunadoy Choubey 3: Shivpuri Assembly seat: BJP - Yashodhara Raje Scindia, minister in Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet is contesting from this seat; Congress – Siddharth Lada 4: Bhitarwar Assembly seat: BJP – Anoop Mishra (Nephew of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and MP from Morena); Congress - Lakhan Singh Yadav (He had defeated Anoop Mishra of the BJP party in 2013 election by a total of 6,548 votes) 5: Indore 3 Assembly seat: BJP - Akash Vijayvargiya (Son of senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya); Congress – Ashwin Joshi 6: Datia Assembly seat: BJP – Dr. Narottam Mishra (Public Relations minister of Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet); Congress – Rajendra Bharti 7: Rehli Assembly seat: BJP – Gopal Bhargava (Minister of Co-operative, Social Justice, Panchayat and Rural Development in MP); Congress – Kamlesh Sahu 8: Burhanpur Assembly seat: BJP – Archana Chitnis (state Women and Child Development Minister); Congress – Ravindra Mahajan 9: Govindpura Assembly seat: BJP – Krishna Gaur (Her father-in-law Babulal Gaur, former CM and Minister won 10 times from this seat); Congress – Girish Sharma 10: Baitul Assembly seat: BJP – Hemant Khandelwal; Congress – Nilay Daga Except in 1980, the party which has won the Betul constituency has ended up being the ruling party in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly. Here’s a look at some of the key faces from the Congress and their constituencies 1: Churhat Assembly seat: Congress – Ajay Singh (Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh assembly and son of former union minister and former MP CM Arjun Singh); BJP - Sartendu Tiwari (Grandson of former MP Chandra Pratap Tiwari who defeated Arjun Singh from Churhat assembly seat in 1967) 2: Jhabua Assembly seat: Congress – Vikrant Bhuria (Son of Kantilal Bhuria, Minister of Tribal Affairs in Manmohan Singh government); BJP – Guman Singh Damor 3: Rau Assembly seat: Congress – Jitu Patwari (Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee); BJP – Madhu Verma 4: Bhojpur Assembly seat: Congress – Suresh Pachauri (Former Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee head and former union minister); BJP – Surendra Patwa (Nephew of Sunderlal Patwa, former CM of Madhya Pradesh)