After rejection of SP nominee, INDIA backs AIFB candidate for Khajuraho

After rejection of SP nominee, INDIA backs AIFB candidate for Khajuraho

Consequent to the rejection of the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate’s nomination from the Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, the INDIA bloc parties, including Congress, the SP, and others, have formally decided to support the candidate of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) R B Prajapati on the seat.

Initially, Congress had left the Khajuraho seat for its INDIA partner, the SP. However, the SP candidate, Meera Deep Narayan Yadav’s nomination was rejected after scrutiny on the grounds of missing one signature at the required place and submitting an old non-updated voters’ list copy.

Following this, the INDIA parties in Madhya Pradesh held a meeting and decided to unanimously back one of the remaining candidates for the seat. The parties have decided to offer full support to AIFB candidate R B Prajapati, a retired IAS officer.

The Congress leadership said it was happy to support the AIFB, as it was formed by freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose in 1939. The party further said that due to similar ideology, efforts to save democracy in the present times, and political commitment, the Congress and other INDIA bloc parties have decided to grant full support to the AIFB candidate at Khajuraho.

R B Prajapati will now be the main challenger to BJP candidate Vishnu Dutt Sharma.

Sharma is the MP BJP chief and the sitting Lok Sabha member, having won the seat in the 2019 general elections by more than 4.5 lakh votes.

The Congress is contesting the remaining 28 Lok Sabha seats out of the 29 in Madhya Pradesh.

Led by Subhash Chandra Bose, the AIFB initially emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress on 3 May 1939 at Makur in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh. Post-Independence, the AIFB re-established itself as an independent left-wing nationalist political party.