Bhopal, July 11 (IANS) The Congress on Saturday announced former MLA Ghanshyam Singh as its candidate for the Datia Assembly by-election in Madhya Pradesh, setting up a direct contest with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ashutosh Tiwari in a politically significant bypoll.

The by-election has attracted attention after the BJP denied a ticket to senior leader and former state Home Minister Narottam Mishra, replacing him with Tiwari. The decision triggered protests by Mishra’s supporters, exposing rare signs of discontent within the ruling party.

Ghanshyam Singh, a two-time former MLA from Datia, had purchased the party’s nomination papers on Friday, indicating that he was the Congress’ preferred choice. The party formally announced his candidature on Saturday.

The bypoll became necessary after Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti was disqualified from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly following the Delhi High Court’s decision to uphold his conviction in a criminal case.

The Congress has once again placed its trust in Ghanshyam Singh, one of its senior leaders in the Gwalior-Chambal region. Singh first won the Datia Assembly seat in 1993 after replacing Rajendra Bharti as the party’s candidate.

He returned to the Assembly after winning the seat again in 2003 and has remained active in the constituency despite electoral setbacks in later years.

Datia has witnessed a close contest between the Congress and the BJP for nearly four decades. The seat was represented four times by veteran Congress leader Shyam Sundar Bharti.

His son, Rajendra Bharti, won the seat in 1985 and 1990 on a Congress ticket before switching parties after being denied the party nomination in 1998. He later returned to the Congress and defeated Narottam Mishra in the 2023 Assembly election.

The BJP has fielded Ashutosh Tiwari, who has an RSS background and has served as chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Housing Board. He is contesting his first Assembly election.

The announcement of Tiwari’s candidature sparked protests by supporters of Narottam Mishra in Datia. Markets remained shut, and a highway was blocked for several hours from Friday evening till Saturday afternoon.

The protest later turned violent, with some demonstrators allegedly pelting stones at police personnel. More than half a dozen police personnel, including Datia Superintendent of Police Mayank Awasthi and Additional Superintendent of Police Aman Singh Rathore, were injured in the violence. Additional police forces were deployed to restore normalcy.

However, Mishra accepted the party’s decision on Saturday and said he would campaign for the BJP candidate.

“I accept the party’s decision wholeheartedly. I will campaign for Ashutosh Tiwari and work to ensure the BJP’s victory,” Mishra told IANS on Saturday.

–IANS

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