A total of 916 nomination papers filed by Assembly election candidates in Madhya Pradesh were rejected, leaving behind about 2,914 valid papers for the November 17 election for the 230-member Assembly. BJP candidate from Bhojpur Surendra Patwa got a scare after his papers were temporarily put on hold before being approved by the election office.
On the other hand, the verbal duel between Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Congress chief ministerial candidate Kamal Nath has continued, with the former accusing Nath of coming from a business background and not being aware of the problems of the people of the state. Nath, in turn, said that the chief minister had ruined the state in 18 years and he is busy making announcements at double speed.
Though the BJP is fighting the election under the collective team led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chouhan has been the party’s primary responder to Nath on attacks in the run-up to elections. While hoardings put up by the BJP across Bhopal show Modi in the biggest visual form, along with Chouhan and several other leaders in smaller pictures, the Congress hoardings in the capital bear the picture of only Nath.
Chouhan has often described Nath and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh as “Mr Bantadhars” and “Jai and Veeru”, a reference to two best friends featured in Bollywood hit Sholay. He said there is a race going on between Jai and Veeru to loot the state due to which they have been summoned by their party leaders in Delhi.
The PCC chief and Congress stalwart said MP has been reduced to a “Choupat” state due to poor state of health and education service He took aim at Chouhan for making “22,000 announcements” and not doing enough to tackle joblessness and inflation. He said not enough investment has been attracted by the government to boost job avenues. The Chief Minister responded by blaming Nath of disrespecting the state by calling it “choupat”.
Nath on Wednesday made another announcement to increase the appeal of his party’s pitch. “Meri Bitya Rani Yojana” announced by him on Wednesday aims to offer Rs 2.51 lakh for each girl from the time of birth to marriage. Also he vowed that the Congress, on coming to power, will ensure free education for all girls.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has put restrictions on release of findings of any exit poll. The curbs came into force shortly after an opinion poll carried out by C-Fore and a news channel indicated that the Congress may get 46% vote share as compared to 43% of the vote share. The Congress may get 132-146 seats while the BJP may end up with 84-98.
Earlier, the Election Commission dismissed a complaint filed against BJP candidate Kailash Vijayvargiya’s nomination papers by his Congress rival Sanjay Shukla in Indore-1 seat. Shukla claimed the BJP leader did not mention two serious criminal cases, involving crimes against women, against him.