Among the prominent personalities who figure in the first phase of polling are Union Minister Kamal Nath, former Opposition leader in the State Vidhan Sabha Ajay Singh and leading legal luminary Vivek Tankha.

Nath is contesting from Chhindwara. Barring once, Kamal Nath is being elected from Chhindwara since 1980. In 1980, he migrated from West Bengal and won the Chhindwara seat. At that time, he was in the good books of Sanjay Gandhi. Chhindwara has been the Congress bastion from the beginning. In fact, in 1977 Chhindwara was the only Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh which elected a Congress nominee. The Congress lost all the other 39 seats (in the then Madhya Pradesh). Kamal Nath has been nursing his constituency in a planned manner and has ensured all-round development of the area. Though, this time, he is facing tough challenge, it is hoped--- that he will retain the seat.

Ajay Singh, son of late Arjun Singh seems to have decided to enter national politics and perhaps with this objective, he is contesting from Satna, which was once held by his father Arjun Singh.

Ajay Singh was the leader of Opposition in the last Assembly. He was again elected to the Vidhan Sabha in the 2013 Assembly polls from the constituency, which was represented by his father since 1957. At present Satna is held by a BJP leader. It will be miracle if Ajay Singh wins the Satna seat.

Vivek Tankha, a leading advocate is contesting from Jabalpur on a Congress ticket. The constituency, in 1985, had elected his father-in-law Ajay Mushran.

Ajay Mushran’s, father Shyam Sunder Mushran was a prominent Congress leader of the state. Both the Mushrans held ministerial posts in Madhya Pradesh. There was a time when Jabalpur was regarded as a Congress stronghold. Seth Govind Das of the Congress held this seat from 1957 till his death in 1971. After the demise of Seth Govind Das, Sharad Yadav, then a young leader, was elected with the support of all the non-Congress parties. After the victory, Sharad Yadav shifted to Bihar.

Out of the nine constituencies, two are Reserved. The Reserved constituencies are Shahdol and Mandla.

The second phase of polling is scheduled for April 17 when polling will be held in ten Lok Sabha constituencies. The last and final phase is scheduled for April 24.

The Congress, however, suffered yet another setback when one more party MLA left the party to join the BJP. The defector MLA is Dinesh Ahirwar. Incidentally Ahirwar’s defection evoked sharp adverse reaction in the BJP. A section of the BJP is resentful of the trend of superimposing the defecting politicians over it. This has happened in the case of Dr. Bhagirath Prashad, who was sponsored as the BJP candidate immediately after he severed ties with Congress. Ironically, he left the Congress after he was formally declared party nominee for the Lok Sabha polls. Dr. Bhagirath Prasad is a retired IAS officer, who was also appointed as Indore University Vice Chancellor. His unethical act was deplored not only by the Congress but others also.

The BJP also faced an embarrassing situation when one of its leaders was caught accepting bribe — on behalf of his wife, who happens to be a senior officer of the Income Tax department. The BJP government’s reputation was also adversely affected when some medical college students, along with their fathers, were arrested on the charge of illegally getting admissions to medical colleges by offering huge sums as bribe.

Referring to the series of scams in Madhya Pradesh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi described Madhya Pradesh as a den of corruption. She made this allegation while addressing a series of public meetings in the State. The day she called Madhya Pradesh a den of corruption, a shocking revelation came in the form of a confession by a policeman. This particular policeman struck a deal with an aspirant, who was seeking the job of police Sub-inspector. The policeman, while accepting a sum of Rs. five lakh from the aspirant, gave an assurance in writing that if the concerned aspirant was not selected, the sum of Rs. 5 lakh will be returned.

As he was not selected, he demanded that Rs. 5 lakh should be returned. But the policeman did not return the money. The whole matter has now reached the competent court. Many such revelations are becoming public, which confirm the belief that MP has become a den of corruption. But if the opinion polls are any indication, it can be safely concluded that the scams are not going to affect the fortunes of the BJP, which, according to the findings of the latest opinion poll, is destined to win more than 25 Lok Sabha seats. (IPA)