Arjun Singh's son aiming for hat-trick at Churhat

Churhat, MP, Nov 25 (UNI) Congress leader and Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh's son Ajay is aiming for a hat-trick at the prestigious Churhat assembly constituency of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and Singh Junior does not seem to be facing much of a challenge.

Churhat is in former chief minister Arjun Singh's native district Sidhi and is considered a Congress bastion where the ruling BJP has fielded Ajay Pratap Singh. The fate of 15 candidates, including Gondwana Ganatantra Party nominee Sharatendu Tiwari -- son of Madhya Pradesh Chief Information Commissioner P P Singh -- would be sealed in electronic voting machines on Thursday.

Mr Arjun Singh himself hit the campaign trail, addressed rallies and even went door to door to drum up support for his son.

In the socialist stronghold Sidhi, Mr Arjun Singh registered consecutive wins at Churhat in 1957 and 1962 but had to bite the dust against the Praja Socialist Party's Chandrapratap Tiwari in 1967 and the latter who continued his winning streak in 1972 also by vanquishing his nearest rival Shyamlal.

Mr Singh wrested the seat in 1977 and he continued winning till 1990. The BJP opened its account in a 1993 bypoll when Mr Govind defeated the Congress' Chintamani Tiwari.

Since 1998, Mr Ajay Singh has been winning Churhat. Despite the BJP wave in 2003, Mr Singh beat the saffron party's Govind by about 14,000 votes. An electorate exceeding 1.60 lakh are expected to exercise their franchise across 195 polling booths.

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