Madhya Pradesh Elections: Congress Fields ‘Hanuman’ Actor Against Incumbent CM Shivraj Chouhan (Image: Twitter/Manoj Sharma)
The Congress party on Sunday issued their primary candidate list, comprising 144 constituencies, for the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh. The list fielded Vikram Mastal, a television actor who played the role of Hanuman in the 2008 Ramayan, against the incumbent Chief Minister of the state and senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The two will contest the polls from the Budhni assembly constituency, where Mr Chouhan took hold of the office since 2006.
Vikram Mastal played a major role in Ramayan, a retelling of the Hindu epic Ramayana, as Hanuman. The series, featured from 2008 to 2009, was completely based on stories from the classic-historic Indian literature. It was a remake of the 1987 predecessor with the same title, and was aired on Imagine TV.
Mr Mastal joined Congress in July this year and former Chief Minister of the state Kamal Nath was present at the actor’s induction into the party. The BJP, in its candidate list declared on October 9 had already announced that the sitting CM will contest from Budhni. The constituency is a strong hold of Bharatiya Janata Party’s national vice-president Mr Chouhan, who demonstrates himself as the longest-serving Chief Minister of the state. He is also a stead-fast labourer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
आरंभ है अंत का .जय श्री राम , जय भक्त हनुमान जी @OfficeOfKNath @NakulKNath @INCMP @IYC @priyankagandhi @inc_jpagarwal @RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/2NEjdvTGiY
— Vikram Mastal (Vikram Sharmaa (@VikramMastal) July 5, 2023
Mr Chouhan won the seat in 2018 elections with a clear margin of 58,999 votes, defeating former Union minister and senior Congress leader Arun Yadav. The BJP is in power in the state for the past 15 years, except for a short-time after the 2018 assembly elections. In the 2018 elections, Congress emerged as the single-largest party with 114 seats among the 230 constituencies after defeating BJP, who managed to secure three consecutive terms in the state.
The state witnessed a political overturn in 2020 as Mr Chouhan took oath as the Chief Minister of the once again (for the fourth time) on March 23 after 22 Congress MLA’s resigned along with Jyotiraditya Scindia resulting the collapse of Kamal Nath government.
The Congress also fielded state president Kamal Nath from Chhindwara, and former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan Singh will fight for the Raghigath seat. The party has given KP Singh, a five-time MLA from Pichhor, a ticket from Shivpuri and replaced Jhabua candidate Kantilal Bhuria with Bhuria’s son and youth president Vikrant Bhuria.
The state will go to booths on November 17 and counting is scheduled for December 3. The election will be conducted in a single phase in all the 230 assembly constituencies.
