By IANS,
Bhopal : The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh has been affected the most by the delimitation of constituencies for the Nov 27 state polls.
In the 231-seat Madhya Pradesh assembly, which includes one nominated Anglo-Indian member, the seats of 54 BJP legislators and seven ministers have been granted reserved status or have been merged into other constituencies.
The ministers affected include Meena Singh, Narottam Mishra, Ramdayal Ahirwar, Moti Kashyap, Jagannath Singh, Jagdish Dewda and former minister in the Shivraj Singh government Ajay Bishnoi.
Bishnoi had to resign a couple of months ago following income-tax raids on the premises of his relatives and his alleged involvement in the state’s biggest ever medical scam involving purchase of medicines for government hospitals at a price much higher than the market price.
Some other BJP leaders affected due to delimitation of constituencies include Rasal Singh, Dhyanendra Singh, Gyan Singh, Chhote Lal Sarawgi, Om Prakash Dhurve and Girija Shankar Sharma.
The impact of delimitation on the Congress has been less. Only four Congress MLAs – Sukhdev Panse, Raj Narayan Singh, Urmila Singh and Ravindra Mahajan – have been affected.
The profiles also have changed of constituencies held one each by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) and Janata Dal (U), besides the four seats held by the Samajawadi Party.
While political observers feel this may damage the ruling BJP at the hustings the most, putting up a brave face, state BJP spokesman Uma Shankar Gupta said delimitation may have some effect on individual leaders but not on the party.
“Those who have decided to vote for the BJP due to its excellent performance in the past five years will vote for the party whether in this constituency or that.”