Jyotiraditya contesting third time from Guna LS seat

The Union Minister of State for Communication and IT, Jyotiraditya Scindia is contesting for the third time in a row from the Guna-Shivpuri parliamentary constituency since 2001.         

The 39-year-old Scindia plunged into politics in 2001 after his father Madhavrao Scindia died in a helicopter crash on his way from New Delhi to Kanpur.         

Scindia's main opponent is BJP's Narottam Mishra who is also the party MLA from Datia.        

BJP is making all efforts to make sure that Scindia is not re-elected and this is evident from the fact that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has already toured the constituency seven times to seek votes for Mishra.        

Apart from Chouhan, other BJP stalwarts who have campaigned here against Scindia include Madhya Pradesh BJP President Narendra Singh Tomar, former party President Venkaiah Naidu and film-star Hema Malini.         

There are a total of 18 candidates in the fray from the Guna-Shivpuri constituency but the main contest is between Scindia and Mishra.         

During the last assembly elections held in November 2008, of the eight assembly segments in the constituency, six had been won by the BJP and one each had gone to the Congress and Uma Bharti's Bharatiya Janashakti Party.The fact that the BJP won in six assembly segments in November 2008 assembly elections may not be a cause of worry to Scindia.         

In the December 2003 assembly elections also, the Congress had trailed by 1.8 lakh votes in the eight assembly segments in the constituency but in the Lok Sabha elections held four months later, Scindia won by a margin of 80,000 votes.         

Because of this, it is expected here that the poor performance of the Congress in the assembly elections would not come in the way of Scindia's possible victory from the constituency.         

This time those who are taking part in the campaign for Scindia include his mother, Madhvi Raje Scindia and his wife Priyadarshani Scindia.        

In his campaign speeches, Scindia is harping on the development that he has brought about in the constituency since he was elected from here after his father's death.         

Initially during the campaign, BJP had made some personal comments about Congress leader but now both the parties are talking of development.