Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia meets BJP workers protesting over ticket distribution in Gwalior
Oct 22, 2023
Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) [India], October 22 : Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia met and interacted with the supporters of BJP leader Munnalal Goyal who gathered for protest after the leader was denied a ticket for the upcoming election in the state.
Union Minister Scindia met the supporters outside the Jai Vilas Palace in Gwalior.
The angry protest by BJP workers started after the party on Saturday released its fifth list of 92 candidates for Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.
In the list released by the BJP, Maya Singh has been fielded from Gwalior East.
Before meeting Scindia, one of the supporters of Munnalal Goyal said that they have nothing against the party or the current candidate, they just want the party to win the seat.
"We have come here to request him (Jyotiraditya Scindia) that the candidate of Gwalior East be changed and Munnalal Goyal be made the candidate. No one else can win that seat. Somebody who is unable to even walk has been made the candidate there. We are serving the seat to Congress on a platter. So, we are pained. That is why, we have come here to make the request. We have nothing against the party or the current candidate but we want the party to win the seat..." a supporter said.
Earlier on Saturday, the supporters and workers of the BJP also staged a protest in Jabalpur over ticket distribution.
Union Minister Prahlad Patel condemned the protest staged by the supporters and workers of BJP over ticket distribution in Jabalpur and called it "unfortunate".
Union Minister Patel said, "The incident that occurred in Jabalpur is condemnable...It is unfortunate and shameful..."
In the fifth list of candidates for Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, prominent names include Madhya Pradesh ministers Usha Thakur and Mahendra Singh Sisodiya and Mousam Bisen, who is the daughter of minister Gaurishankar Bisen.
Former ministers Jayant Kumar Malaiya, and Antar Singh Arya have been given tickets.
Siddharth Tiwari and Sachin Birla, who recently joined the BJP, after resigning from Congress, figure in the list.
Party leaders Yoshodhara Raje Scindia, Gauri Shankar Bisen, and OPS Bhadoria, a Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist, are not among the party candidates.
BJP has now declared the names of 228 candidates for 230 seats. The party is yet to declare candidates for Guna (Scheduled Caste) and Vidisha seats.
The BJP earlier announced a total of 136 candidates in its four lists - 39 candidates each in the first and second lists, a single name in the third list, and 57 candidates in the fourth list.
The second list contained the names of three Union Ministers and four MPs.
Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Singh Patel have been fielded from the Dimani and Narsinghpur constituencies respectively. Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste will contest from the Niwas seat.
BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and BJP MP Rakesh Singh have been fielded from Indore-1 and Jabalpur Paschim constituencies.BJP's fourth list of 57 candidates included names of 23 state cabinet ministers and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The prominent names on the list were Narottam Mishra, Pradhuman Singh Tomar, Bhupendra Singh, Govind Singh Rajput, Gopal Bhargava, Rajendra Shukla, Prabhuram Choudhary, Vishwas Sarang, Tulsi Ram Silavat, Mohan Yadav, Hardeep Singh Dang and Omprakash Sakhlecha.
Madhya Pradesh will go to the polls on November 17 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3.
In the last 2018 assembly elections, Congress won 114 seats with a vote share of 40.89 per cent while the BJP came second and managed to win 109 seats. Its vote share was 41.02 per cent. The Congress came to power with Kamal Nath taking oath as the chief minister but Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 loyalist MLAs, switched over to BJP in 2020.
The BJP later formed the government with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Chief Minister.