Who is Prakhar Pratap Singh, youngest candidate in MP?

The highly anticipated five-state assembly election entered its second phase as heartland state Madhya Pradesh goes to vote for 230 seats today. The fate of 2,533 state candidates will be determined by more than 5.9 crore voters. Despite the Congress and BJP controlling the electoral narrative in MP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made its entry by fielding 66 candidates. The youngest nominee this year is Prakhar Pratap Singh, a 25-year-old AAP contender from the Gurh segment in the Rewa district. He is running against the incumbent MLA, Nagendra Singh of the BJP, and Kapidhwaj Singh of the Congress. Who is Prakhar Pratap Singh? Prakhar Pratap Singh hails from Raipur Karchulian in Rewa district. Singh attended the Doon School in Dehradun for his elementary education before moving to the United States, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architecture. He also worked there for over two years at a job with an annual pay of Rs one crore. After returning to India, Singh decided to pursue a career in politics by running for the Gurh assembly seat. His decision to join the AAP has been personal, even though he has family connections to both the Congress and the BJP. The move was so unwavering that it caused a brief rift with his father, demonstrating how deeply held it was.

गुढ़ का विकास बुनेंगे....@AamAadmiParty @AAPMPOfficial @ArvindKejriwal @BhagwantMann @SandeepPathak04 #gurhvidhansabha pic.twitter.com/1gpAcxmFCj

— Prakhar Pratap Singh (@prakharpratapmp) November 15, 2023

In an interview with Indian Express, he said, “Members of my family used to be involved with BJP and Congress parties. I didn’t even consult them before making the decision, for which my father stopped speaking with me for three days.” He revealed that his family has been engaged in jan seva (social work) for multiple generations. His father and grandfather are well-known and highly respected in Rewa. Speaking about being the youngest candidate in the state, he told the newspaper, “I haven’t dwelled upon it, nor do I think it makes any difference. At my age, everything is at its peak — your jazba (passion), commitment and energy are all high, while you can also understand everything around you because your mind has developed completely. So it’s good if it’s used in the right way.” Why did he join AAP? Singh was drawn to AAP by the party’s achievements in Punjab and Delhi. His political philosophy also aligns with the party’s progressive attitude. Further, he criticises the major political parties in the country for their lack of presence in the area and poor leadership. He told Indian Express, “The AAP has accepted me and given me a chance to fight on its ticket. But I never saw myself joining the BJP or the Congress as they are too big, irrespective of their ideology. " [caption id=“attachment_13396742” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Singh is running against the incumbent MLA, Nagendra Singh of the BJP, and Kapidhwaj Singh of the Congress. Image Courtesy: @PrakharGurh/X.com[/caption] “When the AAP was launched in 2013, everybody used to doubt it. But he (Arvind Kejriwal) did it (formed the government) in Delhi thrice, in Punjab too, and is now creating ground in other parts. I had a meeting with our national general secretary-organisation Sandeep Pathak, who explained that being educated people, we’re sometimes too sensitive to competitive agendas and run away from our own agenda. That convinced me to make up my mind to contest the elections,” Singh asserts that the BJP’s goal of “damage control” is to “stop AAP anyhow” in response to questions concerning the imprisonment of multiple AAP leaders and Arvind Kejriwal's summons by the Enforcement Directorate. He is also certain that the AAP’s plan for transformation is “unstoppable,” despite the fierce political competition and difficulties associated with joining the party. “AAP is now a vision. You can’t kill a vision. There will always be people to run the show.” What is his election-related focus? Singh’s campaign focuses on local concerns, like Gurh’s lack of adequate schools, hospitals, and drinking water. Utilising his family’s local connections, public gatherings, and advertising are some of his approaches for reaching out to voters.

विधानसभा अंतर्गत ग्राम डिहिया और भुन्दहा में आयोजित जनसभा में जनता का अटूट प्रेम मिला,यही अटूट प्रेम और विश्वास मेरी ताकत है, गुढ़ का बेटा होने के नाते हमेशा आप सबके सुख दुःख में साथ खड़ा रहूँगा |#EkMaukaKejriwalKo #MPMeinBhiKejriwal pic.twitter.com/oTU40CJLw5

— Prakhar Pratap Singh (@prakharpratapmp) November 14, 2023

Unlike the political norm, he aims to refocus attention on the needs of individuals, by addressing their concerns. MP Assembly elections The BJP has dominated Madhya Pradesh politics for nearly 20 years, with the exception of a brief two-year period following the 2018 elections. The Congress is fighting for control over the saffron party, whose goal is to hold onto power for an additional term. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh, and Shivraj Singh Chouhan led the BJP’s all-out campaign. Accordingly, the Congress appointed Digvijaya Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Kamal Nath, and its leader Mallikarjun Kharge to confront the ruling party from the platform. The grand-old party’s electoral strategy centred on conducting a caste-based survey of the state’s Other Backward Classes (OBCs), while the BJP’s claims that it had lifted the state out of the “BIMARU” (laggard) category and provided a “corruption-free” government. Around 64,000 stations began polling at 7 am, and it will conclude at 6 pm. With inputs from agencies