The ball has been set rolling after filing of nomination papers by prominent leaders, including four from BJP and six from Congress, on Thursday. After filing nominations in seven Assembly constituencies of Bhopal district, the battle ground for Assembly Election 2023 is ready. Earlier in the day, prominent BJP leader and minister Vishwas Sarang reached SDM office on scooter to file his nomination. The other prominent leaders who filed nominations on Thursday were from BJP, Rameshwar Sharma from Huzur, Krishna Gaur from Govindpura, Vishwas Sarang from Narela and Dhruvnarayan Singh from Bhopal Madhya. From Congress, Atif Aqil from Bhopal North, Manoj Shukla from Narela, P C Sharma from Bhopal South-West, Arif Masood from Central, Ravindra Sahu from Govindpura and Naresh Gyanchandani from Huzur submitted their forms.

 

Congress candidate from North Atif Aqil arrived first and filed his nomination. BJP candidate from Govindpura Krishna Gaur arrived with BJP District President Sumit Pachauri and filed the nomination while BJP candidate from Huzur Assembly, MLA Rameshwar Sharma filed his nomination in the afternoon. Before filing nomination, Sharma reached Hanuman temple to seek blessings and offered prayers. After filing nomination, BJP candidate Rameshwar Sharma said “Ever since I joined politics, I have taken a pledge to serve the public and I will always follow it”. A huge crowd gathered in the Collectorate premises and SDM offices in support of the Congress-BJP candidates. A total of 35 nominations have been filed including these prominent leaders. For Berasia one nomination, three for Bhopal North, thirteen nominations for Narela, three nominations for Bhopal South-West, three nominations for Bhopal Madhya, three nominations for Govindpura Assembly and three nominations for Huzur were filed.

 

Now, only four days are left to file nominations for the Assembly elections but candidates will get only 2 days because Saturday and Sunday are holidays. In such a situation, the remaining candidates can file nomination on October 27 and October 30. Meanwhile, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and State Congress chief Kamal Nath filed his nomination on Thursday from the Chhindwara Assembly seat for State Assembly elections slated November 17. After filing the nomination, Kamal Nath said “In 18 years, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has pushed Madhya Pradesh into corruption, has given inflation and ruined the state, he is a great artist. He does not see unemployment, he does not listen to the voice of farmers, but he only talks a lot and he is not able to run the State.” Chhindwara has been considered the Nath family turf for nearly 40 years. Before he became the Chief Minister, Kamal Nath represented the constituency in the Lok Sabha for nine consecutive terms. However, in the 1997 Parliamentary by-poll, he faced defeat at the hands of BJP leader Sundarlal Patwa.