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BJP, Congress gear up for another round of by-polls

BHOPAL: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, the two main rival parties in Madhya Pradesh, are grappling with the task of selecting their candidates for the upcoming State Assembly by-election from Sanver.

For the Lok Sabha by-election from Khargone, there are firm indications that the BJP has made up its mind to once again field the former Member of Parliament Krishna Murari Moghe. According to BJP insiders, the announcement of his candidature remains a mere formality. The Khargone seat fell vacant in July this year after the then President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam disqualified Mr. Moghe as member of the Lok Sabha on the office-of-profit issue. Two names are prominently doing the rounds in Congress circles for candidature from Khargone. They are the PCC president Subhash Yadav and his son Arun Yadav.

The by-elections for the Sanver Assembly constituency has been necessitated by the sudden demise of State Minister Prakash Sonkar.

In the upcoming by-elections, the stakes are very high for the BJP since it faces the task of retaining both the Khargone and Sanver seats. The ruling party faces a major challenge and cannot hope to take these elections lightly after suffering a defeat in the recent Lanji Assembly by-election, where its candidate lost to a Samajwadi Party candidate, who had contested the election as an under-trial from jail.

Till recently there was speculation about the possibility of the Bharatiya Janshakti Party leader Uma Bharti contesting the Khargone by-election. But this possibility is now being ruled out by Uma Bharti loyalists. They point out that she would not be contesting this election on health grounds and also due to the Gujarat Assembly elections. Earlier, Ms. Bharti had announced the candidature of Santosh Malviya as the party candidate from Sanver.

Polling for Khargone and Sanver would be held on December 12. The filing of nominations would begin on November 16 and close on November 23. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is November 28 and the counting of votes will be on December 15.

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BJP, Congress gear up for another round of by-polls

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