Bhopal: The third phase polling in Madhya Pradesh in which nine Lok Sabha constituencies are going to elections on May seven is billed to seal the fates of three political heavyweights of the state.
Four-time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Congress veteran Digvijay Singh are seeking election from Vidisha, Guna, and Rajgarh respectively making the three LS seats most keenly watched ones of the state.
While Mr. Chouhan is a sitting MLA of BJP from Budhni, Mr Scindia and Mr Singh are sitting Rajya Sabha members of BJP and Congress respectively.
Sixty-five-year-old Mr Chouhan found himself at the crossroads of his political career when he was denied the opportunity to become chief minister of the state for the fifth time after BJP won a landslide victory in Madhya Pradesh in November 2023 Assembly polls.
Amid speculations on his political future after he was replaced by Mohan Yadav in the post of chief minister, Mr Chouhan was declared a candidate for Vidisha LS constituency by BJP, paving the way for him to shift to national politics if he won the polls.
On the other hand, stakes are high for Mr Scindia in this poll since he is out to regain his family bastion of Guna, lost by him in the 2019 polls at the hand of his close aide K P Yadav who fought the polls in the seat as BJP candidate then.
Mr Scindia was in Congress then. He switched over to BJP in March 2020 and is now seeking election from the seat as a BJP candidate.
Seventy-seven-year-old Mr Singh in the twilight of his political career seeks to establish his political legacy by winning the poll on his home turf of Rajgarh.
The ignominious defeat at the hand of political greenhorn Pragya Singh Thakur of BJP in Bhopal in the 2019 LS polls had hurt the two-time chief minister.
Campaigning ended in the nine LS seats in Madhya Pradesh that are going to polls in the third phase polling on Sunday evening.
The third and final phase of polling in Chhattisgarh in which seven LS constituencies are going to polls on May seven may decide the fate of state minister Brij Mohan Agrawal and two former ministers Shiv Dahariya and Chintamani Maharaj.
While Mr Agrawal is contesting from Raipur, Mr Dahariya is seeking election from Janjgir-Champa.
Mr Maharaj who was a minister in the Bhupesh Baghel cabinet, has switched to BJP from Congress and is fielded by the saffron party in Surguja LS seat.
