Bhopal. On Monday, Rajkumar Lohani of Bhopal filed an independent nomination against BJP candidate and Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for a seat in the Rajya Sabha of Madhya Pradesh. Congress has supported Lohani. In fact, as soon as Hardeep Puri’s name was announced, Congress is strongly opposing it. Hardeep Singh Puri from BJP was believed to be elected unopposed, but the election took a new turn with the filing of a nomination as an independent on Monday.
Congress MLA Hemant Katare became the proposer in Lohani’s nomination. Lohani submitted nomination papers before the Returning Officer in the Assembly on Sowar. During this, MLAs Atif Akil, Ajay Singh Rahul, Arif Masood, Honey Baghel, Mahesh Parmar, Dinesh Jain Bose, Madhu Bhagat, Hiralal Alava and Kunwar Abhijeet Shah were present. It is noteworthy that in terms of numbers in the Assembly, Congress does not have the necessary numbers to win. For this reason Congress did not declare the candidate. Now Congress MLAs have given a new political turn by supporting the independent candidate.
Two independents, both likely to be rejected
Rajkumar Lohani has not filled and submitted the prescribed affidavit i.e. Form 26 showing his assets and registered crimes along with the nomination papers. Due to this, there is every possibility that the nomination papers will be rejected. It is noteworthy that before this, Hardeep Singh Puri of BJP and Kante Sayanna of independent Telangana have submitted their nomination papers. The names of the proposing MLAs are not mentioned in the nomination papers of Kante Sayanna, which is likely to be rejected. Monday was the last day for submitting nomination papers. Scrutiny will be done on Tuesday. Withdrawal of nominations will be possible on 5 November 2026. Whereas voting is proposed on 12th November. If the nominations of both the independent candidates are canceled, Hardeep Puri can win unopposed only on 5th November.
Lohani also expressed fear of cancellation of nomination
After filing nomination, Lohani said that on one hand the government was congratulating the people of the state on the occasion of Madhya Pradesh Foundation Day, while on the other hand a person was made a candidate for Rajya Sabha, whose picture was revealed with Jeffrey Epstein. Questions were raised about his loyalty. Lohani said that there is resentment among the native residents of the state over the decision to send such a person to the Rajya Sabha from the state. Keeping this in view, I decided to elect. I appealed to the Congress MLAs for cooperation.
Bhopal North MLA Atif Akil supported me and arranged for me to meet Deputy Leader of Opposition Hemant Katare. After listening to me, Katare discussed with the top leadership of Congress and assured me of getting the support of all the Congress MLAs. With the support of Congress, I filed nomination as an independent candidate. Lohani expressed apprehension that the state government may try to get his nomination canceled and remove him from the election field. He also mentioned incidents that happened with Meenakshi Natarajan in the past. He challenged the BJP that if it has confidence in its decision then it should hold elections and face the public opinion in front of the MLAs.