Madhya Pradesh BJP considering denying tickets to 70-80 MLAs, including ministers, to tide over anti-incumbency

Bhopal: The ruling BJP is thinking of not giving tickets to 70-80 MLAs, including some ministers, for the forthcoming Assembly polls in order to tide over anti-incumbency, a party leader said on Friday. Assembly polls in the state are scheduled for 28 November and counting of votes will take place on 11 December. [caption id=“attachment_5213891” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “The party is seriously toying with the idea of not giving tickets to 70-80 MLAs and ministers,” a state BJP leader told PTI on Friday. He added that the ruling BJP came up with this idea following reports of public outrage against some MLAs. Party sources said that Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been touring the state as part of his Jan Ashirwad Yatra, was receiving complaints about non-performing MLAs. Besides, a recent opinion poll, which showed the Congress returning to power in MP after a gap of 15 years, has also prompted the BJP to set its house in order, they said. “There is public outrage against some MLAs but not against Chief Minister Chouhan, who still remains popular with the masses,” a Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) functionary said. He said that the BJP stood a good chance of retaining power if new faces are given a chance. The BJP, in the 2013 Assembly polls, had given about 25 percent tickets to new faces and 75 percent of them emerged victorious. In the 2013 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 165 seats in the 230-member House. The Congress got 58 seats, the BSP four and one seat was won by an Independent.