Surat Replay: Congress Loses Another Candidate before Election as He Joins BJP

Akshay Bam, the Congress candidate in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, announced that he was dropping out of the race and joining the BJP. The news was revealed in a post by senior Madhya Pradesh BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, who shared a photo of Bam in a car, welcoming him to the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party national president JP Nadda, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, and state president VD Sharma. Today marked the last day of nominations for Indore, which is set to vote in the fourth phase of elections on May 13. District Collector Ashish Singh confirmed that three candidates, including Congress’ Akshay Bam, withdrew their nominations as per the due procedure, with the process being videographed.

Accompanied by BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola, Akshay Bam visited the district collector’s office to retract his candidacy. The Congress had chosen Bam, a first-time candidate, to challenge the incumbent BJP MP Shankar Lalwani in Indore, the constituency with the largest electorate in Madhya Pradesh. This move came amidst a series of party workers, including former MLAs, switching to the BJP in the state. The Congress faced another setback as party leaders in Indore expressed disappointment and questioned the decision to field Bam as the candidate.

They raised concerns about his withdrawal and criticized the leadership for selecting him over long-serving party members. During the scrutiny of nominations, the BJP’s legal cell had raised an objection on Bam’s nomination form for not disclosing a 17-year-old land dispute involving section 307 of IPC, an attempt to murder case. Despite the objection, the poll officials accepted his nomination as the charge was added on the day he filed the nomination.