Madhya Pradesh: Ex-CM Kamal Nath casts vote in first phase of LS polls, says “full faith in people of Chhindwara”

Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh) [India], April 19 (ANI): Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath on Friday exercised his franchise in Chhindwara in the in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 and said that he had full faith in the people of Chhindwara and they would stand by the truth.

Chhindwara along with five other parliamentary seats – Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla and Balaghat, went to polling on Friday morning from 7 am.

After casting the vote in the first phase of LS polls, Nath also showed his inked finger to reporters ouside the polling booth.

While going to the polling station, Nath told ANI, “I have full faith in the people of Chhindwara. They are the witness of history of the last 44 years and I have full hope that they will stand by the truth.”

Chhindwara is a hot seat in the state and Congress had held the seat for over 70 years barring a short period of time between 1997 and 1998. Besides, Kamal Nath or his family members have been ruling the seat for the last 44 years since 1980. But in 1997, veteran BJP leader and former CM Sunderlal Patwa defeated Nath in by-election though Kamal Nath again won the Chhindwara seat in 1998.

Chhindwara is considered a stronghold of Kamal Nath and the former CM’s son Nakul Nath is contesting from the seat and it was the only seat that the grand old party managed to win in the previous 2019 general elections in the state.

Nakul Nath is contesting again from the Chhindwara seat against BJP candidate Vivek Bunty Sahu, who had lost to Kamal Nath in the last two assembly polls.

The BJP already showed in the recently conducted assembly polls that it has an upper advantage in the Hindi heartland states. In the 2019 elections, Congress leader Nakul Nath got a total of 47.1 per cent of vote share whereas the defeated BJP candidate touched 44.1 per cent.

Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh will be conducted in four phases. The first phase of polling will be held on April 19, followed by April 26, May 7 and May 13. The votes will be counted on June 4.

Madhya Pradesh has a total of 29 Lok Sabha constituencies, making it the sixth-largest state in terms of parliamentary representation. Out of these, 10 seats are reserved for SC and ST candidates, while the remaining 19 are unreserved.