PM Modi, Amit Shah in first BJP list of 195 candidates for Lok Sabha polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win all 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh in the upcoming general elections, said former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been nominated from Vidisha seat.

The name of Chouhan and other leaders figured in the first list of 195 candidates declared by the BJP in Delhi on Saturday. The party announced the names of 24 candidates from MP.

”Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the hearts of the people of Madhya Pradesh. The BJP will win all 29 seats. We all will contest jointly,” Chouhan told reporters at his residence on Saturday night and invoked ”Fir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar, Abki Baar 400 Paar” slogan.

He said BJP leaders, including MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state party president VD Sharma, have held discussions about ensuring poll victory.

”As a party worker, I will work with full strength,” he said.

Chouhan represented the high-profile Vidisha Lok Sabha seat for five terms before becoming the chief minister in 2005.

The constituency was previously represented by BJP stalwarts like late Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1991), Sushma Swaraj (2009 and 2014) and newspaper publisher Ramnath Goenka (1971).

Chouhan last won the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat in 2004 but resigned after becoming the chief minister.

He is the sitting MLA from Budhni seat, which also falls under the Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency.

BJP’s Ramakant Bhargava is the sitting MP from Vidisha.

In the state assembly polls held in November 2023, Chouhan won the Budhni seat with a record margin of 1.05 lakh votes.

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP won 28 of the 29 seats in MP, while the Congress only managed to win Chhindwara seat.