MP: Mungaoli, Kolaras bypolls to be conducted on Feb 24

The impending assembly by-polls in Kolaras and Mungaoli assembly constituencies will be held on February 24 and the results of which will be announced on Feb 28.

The Election Commission on Friday announced the schedule for by-elections to Ashoknagar's Mungaoli and Shivpuri's Kolaras assembly constituencies.

With the ECI announcing poll schedule, the mode code of conduct has come into force from today.

The outcome of upcoming by-elections to Mungaoli and Kolaras assembly seats will be watched keenly as it would be a pointer to the general mood in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh which is going to polls later this year.

Both the BJP and Congress are confident of the victory on the two seats, currently held by the Congress, that fall under Guna Lok Sabha constituency, the pocket-borough of Congress stalwart Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The bypolls were necessitated due to the death of sitting Congress MLAs Mahendra Singh Kalukheda (Mungaoli) and Ram Singh Yadav (Kolaras).

For Scindia, retaining both the seats in his home turf is a battle of prestige as he is positioning himself as the chief ministerial candidate of the Congress.

Aware of the high stakes involved, the Gwalior royal has been constantly touring these two seats in a bid to ward off the saffron challenge.

On its part, the BJP has dispatched a string of Cabinet ministers for campaigning while Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has offered various sops to woo voters in the region.

The Congress, buoyed by its improved performance in last year's Gujarat polls and by retaining the Chitrakoot seat in the bypoll, is confident of victory.

It is crucial for the BJP to wrest these two seats from the Congress as a loss could adversely shape the perception against the ruling party.

Moreover, the defeat in the bypolls could also give a handle to Chouhan's detractors within the party to demand his replacement on the ground of anti-incumbency.

Similarly, a defeat in the byelections would be viewed as a setback for Scindia who is trying to set in order the faction-ridden Congress unit.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)