Congress may field MLAs in LS polls in MP, panel of prospective candidates in 26 out of 29 seats prepared

Sources said that the panel of prospective candidates prepared by the state unit of Congress for 26 out of 29 LS seats in Madhya Pradesh so far comprises at least 14 sitting MLAs of the party.

One mayor of a municipality corporation in the state and 14 party MLAs have figured in the panel of prospective candidates prepared for 26 out of 29 LS seats in the state, a senior Congress functionary told this newspaper on Thursday.

The three LS seats in the state where prospective candidates are yet to be decided are Bhopal, Indore and Satna.

The party has prepared a panel of names for Khajuraho LS seat.

But, the seat will be left to Samajwadi Party (SP) following finalisation of the seat sharing talks between Congress and SP, sources said.

Single names have been recommended for the six LS seats by the state party, while two names each have been recommended for 14 seats.

For the other five seats, multiple names have been recommended.

The names will be finalised by the screening committee of Congress.

In the 2019 LS polls, Congress could win only the Chhindwara seat.

BJP had won the remaining 28 seats.

Nakul, son of Congress veteran and former chief minister Kamal Nath, won the Chhindwara seat in 2019 LS polls.

Chhindwara is considered the pocket borough of Mr Nath who had won the seat nine times earlier before leaving it for his son in the last LS polls.