Madhya Pradesh Congress president and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday filed his nomination from Chhindwara seat — his pocket borough — for the Assembly election.
The 76-year-old leader filed the nomination in the afternoon after offering prayers at a Ram temple here.
The ruling BJP has fielded Bunty Sahu against Mr. Nath. The Congress leader had defeated Mr. Sahu by a margin of more than 25,000 votes in the byelection to the Chhindwara Assembly constituency in 2019.
Talking to reporters after filing the nomination papers, Mr. Nath, who is leading the party in the State, said the people of Madhya Pradesh and in particular Chhindwara will shower their blessings on the Congress.
Mr. Nath had represented the Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency for eight times. After becoming Chief Minister in 2018, he had contested the Assembly byelection after Congress MLA Deepak Saxena resigned from Chhindwara to make way for Mr. Nath to fight the election.
The Nath-led government, which was formed in December 2018, lasted only 15 months as it collapsed in March 2020 after several MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress and joined the BJP. The development paved the way for the saffron party's return to power in the State with Shivraj Singh Chouhan becoming the Chief Minister once again.
Elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held on November 17, and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.
