Defectors bite the dust in MP
The Madhya Pradesh electorate has taught politicians who were hopping from one party to another a sound lesson by ensuring their defeat in the general election.
The voters also did not allow candidates who had
changed their constituencies to reach Parliament.
Among those who changed their parties after the 1996 Lok
Sabha election and lost are Bahujan Samaj Party
general secretary Arvind Netam, his party colleague and former minister Akhand Pratap Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party's Dalip Singh Bhuria, and Khairagarh royal and Janata Dal candidate Shivendra Bahadur Singh.
Congress Working Committee member Arjun Singh, former
chief minister Kailash Joshi, Netam and state Science and
Technology Minister Balendu Shukla fought from new constituencies
and lost the election.
Netam, who resigned from the Congress after the 1996 election, ontested from Janjgir and Kanker. However, he could not save his deposit in both constituencies, which he had represented five times as a Congress member.
Senior tribal leader Dalip Singh Bhuria, a five-time winner from Jhabua quit the Congress and switched over to the BJP after the dissolution of the 11th Lok Sabha. State Tribal Welfare Minister Kantilal Bhuria (Congress) defeated him by more than 80,000 votes.
Akhand Pratap Singh, who was elected to
the Vidhan Sabha as a Congress legislator in 1993, contested the election from Khajuraho as a BSP candidate. He was relegated to the third position and forfeited his deposit.
Shivendra Bahadur Singh joined the Janata Dal when the Congress denied him a ticket from Rajnandgaon and fielded former Uttar Pradesh governor Motilal Vora. While Vora won the seat by a margin of more than 52,000
votes, Singh lost his deposit.
Now for the others who changed their constituencies and met
the same fate.
Arjun Singh, who had moved to Hoshangabad from Satna, was defeated by former Union minister Sartaj Singh (BJP) who retained the seat for the fourth time by more than 69,000 votes.
In 1996, Arjun Singh had unsuccessfully contested the Satna seat
as an All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) candidate. He was relegated to the third position when BSP nominee Sukhlal Kushwaha wrested the seat, defeating his nearest BJP rival and former chief minister Virendra Kumar Sakhlecha.
Similarly, former BJP chief minister Kailash Joshi, who
had won eight assembly elections in a row from Bagli
in Dewas district, moved to Rajgarh to
contest his maiden Lok Sabha election. However, he was defeated by Chief Minister Digvijay Singh's brother Laxman Singh by more than 56,000 votes.
Balendu Shukla, who belongs to Gwalior, contested the poll from neighbouring Bhind, but he could only finish third.
Mahendra Karma, who had won the 1996 election as an
Independent candidate from Bastar, moved to Kanker to contest as a Congress candidate. He lost to BJP candidate Sohan Potai.
UNI
Elections '98
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