New Delhi: In a significant blow to the Congress party on Monday, its Lok Sabha candidate from Indore, Akshay Kanti Bam, withdrew from the electoral race just days before the polls and has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Bam’s decision to switch sides comes as a setback for Congress, which had pinned its hopes on him to challenge sitting BJP MP Shankar Lalwani from the Indore Lok Sabha seat. The constituency is scheduled to go to polls on May 13 in the fourth phase of the elections.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) Madhya Pradesh cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya confirmed Bam’s defection. Vijayvargiya in a post wrote, “We welcome Akshay Kanti Bam Ji Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore into the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, national BJP president JP Nadda and state president VD Sharma.”
The latest development in Indore follows closely on the heels of another setback for Congress in Surat, Gujarat, where its nomination form submitted by Nilesh Kumbhani for the Lok Sabha seat was rejected. This rejection came after three proposers to Kumbhani’s candidacy revealed to the district returning officer that the signatures on the document were forged. Similarly, Suresh Padsala, Congress’ alternative candidate for Surat, faced a similar fate due to identical reasons.
BJP’s Mukesh Dalal emerged victorious uncontested in Surat on April 22. This victory came after all other candidates, including one from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), withdrew their nominations successively.
