BJP releases fifth list for Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, drops Akash Vijayvargiya, fields 12 women

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday released a fifth list of 92 candidates for the assembly polls scheduled in Madhya Pradesh next month. In a surprising move, the BJP has dropped sitting Indore-3 MLA Akash Vijayvargiya, son of the party stalwart Kailash Vijayvargiya who is in the fray from the Indore-1 segment. The BJP has fielded Rakesh Golu Shukla from the Indore-3 constituency in place of Akash Vijayvargiya. Several sitting MLAs are dropped by the BJP in the latest list. The ruling party has so far declared 228 out of 230 candidates for the forthcoming elections except for the Guna and Vidisha seats. The latest list includes the names of 12 women candidates, including former state ministers Maya Singh and Archana Chitnis from the Gwalior East and Burhanpur assembly segments, respectively. Incumbent minister Usha Thakur is renominated from Mhow seat. The single-phase polling for 230 seats will be held on November 17 and counting of votes will be taken up on December 3. Among other prominent candidates who featured on the fifth list are former state ministers Jayant Malaiya (75) and Surendra Patwa, nephew of former MP chief minister Sunderlal Patwa, and Mahendra Singh Sisodia, a loyalist of Union Minister Jyotraditya Scindia. Maliaya lost to Congress candidate Rahul Singh Lodhi in the 2018 polls. In the 2020 bypoll necessitated by Lodhi’s resignation from Congress and subsequent joining of BJP, Malaiya was denied a ticket. Lodhi lost the 2020 bypoll after joining the BJP. Surendra Patwa is fielded from Bhojpur in Raisen district and Sisodia is renominated from Bamori in Guna district. State minister Gaurishanker Bisen is replaced with his daughter Mausam Bisen from the Balaghat constituency.