A Congress Stronghold Challenged
Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara constituency has been a Congress stronghold since 1950, with only a brief interruption in 1997. Since 1980, the seat has been held by the family of Congress stalwart Kamal Nath.
In 1997, BJP leader Sundar Lal Patwa managed to break the Congress dominance by defeating Kamal Nath in a by-election. This victory came after Nath's wife, Alka Nath, resigned to allow him to return to Parliament. The Congress had denied Kamal Nath a ticket in 1995 due to his involvement in a 'hawala' case.
Nakul Nath, Kamal Nath's son, entered the political arena in 2014 and won the Chhindwara seat. This victory came at a crucial time for the Congress, which was facing challenges with prominent leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijay Singh losing their elections.
Nakul's opponent, BJP's Vivek Bunty Sahu, has consistently challenged the Nath family's hold on Chhindwara. In 2018, Kamal Nath, who had become Chief Minister, contested a by-election for the Chhindwara state assembly seat. The BJP fielded Sahu as their candidate, and although Nath won, his margin of victory was a narrow 25,000 votes.
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP fielded Nathan Saha Kawreti against Nakul Nath, but he was defeated. This time, Nakul Nath secured victory by a margin of nearly 35,000 votes, which was lower compared to his father's win by 1.2 lakh votes in 2014.
Adding to the political drama, Nakul Nath's premises were raided by local police following a complaint by his rival Sahu. Sahu accused a top aide of the former chief minister of conspiring to circulate a fake obscene video of him.