Bhopal, Nov 17: Two BJP rebels who filed nominations against Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee`s nephew Anup Mishra in Lashkar East constituency were among 65 candidates who withdrew from the race today leaving 2455 aspirants in fray for the December one elections to the 230 member Madhya Pradesh Assembly. The two rebels, Shyam Bihari Mishra and Prabhakar Narayan Kelkar, withdrew their candidature following advice by central party leaders.
However, some other rebels of various political parties were still in the fray either as independents or as nominees other parties.
Former state minister and Dindori district Congress president Basauri Singh Masram is contesting from Bajag constituency as an independent.
In Rajgarh district, Congress leader Rajvardhan Singh resigned from the party following denial of ticket and is now contesting as an independent from Narsinghgarh seat, while another Congress rebel Arjun Paliya is in the fray in Pipariya constituency as Samajwadi Party nominee.
Nineteen candidates withdrew nominations in Balaghat district, 14 in Gwalior, two in Jabalpur, five in Datia, eight in Ratlam, five each in Vidisa and Dhar districts and three in Guna, according to reports received here.
With this the number of candidates left in the fray is 2455. As many as 2523 candidates had filed their papers of which 567 nominations were rejected during scrutiny.
Bureau Report