Campaigning for Datia Assembly bypolls reaches feverish pitch sans candidates

-Bhopal: With just four days left for the last date of filing nominations for the July 30 by-elections for the Datia Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh, the two ruling parties, the BJP and the Opposition Congress, are yet to announce their candidates even as the by-election campaigns have reached a fever pitch.

While the former minister and senior BJP leader, who is the likely candidate of his party, has intensified the by-election campaign, the Congress has started collecting votes for the party symbol ‘Hand’, with the AICC leadership leaving no clue about the party’s likely candidate.

“Don’t worry about who will face the party in the by-elections. Congress will announce the candidate at the right time. Let workers campaign for the party symbol ‘Hand’ in the by-polls (till the candidate is declared),” Jitu Patwari, president of Madhya Pradesh’s Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), said while addressing a conference of local Congress workers in Datia.

The Congress is busy organizing workers’ conferences in different parts of the constituency, besides launching door-to-door campaigning.

The by-election to the Datia Assembly seat required the Delhi high court to recently disqualify incumbent Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti from the Assembly in a rigging case.

The names of three aspirants for the Assembly by-elections, Mr. Bharti’s wife Sobha, Ghanashyam Singh and Avdesh Nayak, are doing the rounds in Congress circles here.

Mr. Mishra, on the other hand, started campaigning in the constituency on July 6, the day the by-elections were announced.

He has already addressed many election meetings in his constituency.

He is battling the public perception of him as ‘egoistic and arrogant’, which many in the BJP believe is the reason for his defeat in the seat in the 2023 Assembly elections.

While addressing his first election meeting, Mr. Mishra said, “Please forgive my past mistakes. I have completely changed my behavior and etiquette. Believe me, when you come to my house, I will stand up and make you sit down.”

Mr. Mishra has already procured the nomination form.

The deadline to apply for candidacy is July 13.

The elections will be held on July 30, and the results are planned to be announced on August 3.