“A total of 144 candidates, including those of the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress, have filed nominations for the elections to the nine Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, where polling is scheduled in the third phase on May 7,” a top poll official said.
Earlier, polling for only eight seats was scheduled to take place in the third phase, but due to the death of a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate in Betul (ST), election to this seat in the second phase was postponed. So, a total of nine seats will go to polls in the third phase.
Guna, Vidisha and Rajgarh are some of the high-profile seats where polling will be held in the third phase. Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan are contesting elections from Guna and Vidisha, respectively, on the BJP tickets. The Congress has fielded former Chief Minister and its Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh from the Rajgarh seat.
