Scindia, Digvijaya among candidates in fray for 3rd phase of LS polls in MP

A total of 144 candidates, including those of the ruling BJP and opposition Congress, have filed nominations for the elections to nine Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, where polling is scheduled in the third phase on May 7, a top poll official said.

Earlier, polling for only eight seats was scheduled to take place in the third phase, but due to the death of a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate in Betul (ST), election to this seat in the second phase was postponed.

So, a total of nine seats will go to polls in the third phase. Guna, Vidisha and Rajgarh are some of the high-profile seats where polling will be held in the third phase. Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan are contesting elections from Guna and Vidisha, respectively, on the BJP tickets.

The Congress has fielded former chief minister and its Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh from the Rajgarh seat. Madhya Pradesh's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anupam Rajan said the process of filing of nomination papers on nine seats of third phase was completed on Friday.

A total of 223 nomination forms were filed by 144 candidates for these nine seats of third phase. On the last day on Friday, 61 candidates filed 99 nomination forms, he said. Morena, Bhind (SC), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh and Betul (ST) seats will go to polls in the third phase on May 7.

Morena (18 candidates), Bhind (SC) (nine), Gwalior (22), Guna (17), Sagar (14), Vidisha (19), Bhopal (28) and Rajgarh (16) saw filing of nominations by contestants, officials said. In Betul, only a BSP candidate was allowed to file the nomination after the postponement. The scrutiny of nominations will be held on Saturday while the candidates can withdraw their nominations till April 22.