BJP fields Ramakant Bhargava for Budhni, Rawat for Vijaypur byelection 

BJP announces candidates for Madhya Pradesh by-elections, including Ramniwas Rawat and Ramakant Bhargava, with voting on November 13.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (October 19, 2024) announced its candidates for the upcoming byelection on two seats of Madhya Pradesh, fielding Cabinet Minister Ramniwas Rawat from Vijaypur and former MP Ramakant Bhargava from Budhni seat. 

Budhni Assembly constituency was vacated by former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan after he was elected an MP from Vidisha in this year’s Lok Sabha elections and became a Union Minister. 

Whereas the byelection in Vijaypura was necessitated after Mr. Rawat, a six-term MLA from Vijaypur, had moved from the Congress to the BJP in April and resigned from his legislative membership in July. 

The two seats are scheduled to go to vote on November 13 while the counting will be on November 23, the Election Commission had announced. 

The Congress is yet to announce its candidates from the two seats. 

After suffering back to back setbacks in the 2023 State Assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha election, the Congress has been actively campaigning in the two constituencies, especially in Vijaypur where it has accused Mr. Rawat of “betraying” the party as well as the voters.

Mr. Bhargava’s candidature from Budhni makes a swap of candidates by the BJP as he had vacated the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat for Mr. Chouhan in June.