Lok Sabha Election / Congress gave a chance to a new face in BJP's stronghold Indore, it has been in need of victory for 35 years

Lok Sabha Election: Congress, which has been waiting for victory on Indore Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh for the last 35 years, has made a completely new face Akshay Bam (45) its candidate in this area which is considered to be the stronghold of BJP. Bam has not contested a single election so far in his political career. He has been made the candidate from Indore at a time when hundreds of party workers, including three former Congress MLAs in the district, have switched sides and joined BJP before the Lok Sabha elections.

Akshay Bam's main election contest on Indore seat will be with outgoing BJP MP Shankar Lalwani (62). Lalwani has also been the Chairman of Indore Municipal Corporation and Chairman of Indore Development Authority (IDA). In terms of number of voters, 25.13 lakh people have the right to vote in Indore, the largest Lok Sabha constituency in the state, where BJP has given the slogan of victory this time by a margin of eight lakh votes. After announcing his candidature, Bam said on Sunday, "This time the election situation is completely different due to unemployment and inflation. We will enter the fray to break the BJP's stronghold in Indore."

Belonging to Jain community

Bam is a businessman by profession and his family runs private colleges in the city. He belongs to Jain community. This community has about two lakh voters in Indore Lok Sabha constituency. Bam said that in his election campaign he will especially focus on the issues of women and the unemployed. He said, "The ruling BJP has not kept its promise of legalizing the illegal colonies of Indore. People are extremely upset due to this." Bam claimed that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indore, which is called the economic capital of the state, are yearning for facilities and the city has less air and rail connectivity with other parts of the country.

Bam had claimed ticket from Indore-4 seat in the 2023 assembly elections, but Congress did not make him a candidate. Indore is the home constituency of state Congress president Jitu Patwari. Deepak Jain, co-media in-charge of BJP's state unit, said, "Making a novice leader like Bam a candidate from Indore shows that Congress is facing a serious crisis of candidates. He has been made a candidate out of compulsion. Patwari himself has been elected from Indore. Should have fought.”

Election history of Indore seat

Senior BJP leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had contested elections for the first time from Indore Lok Sabha seat in 1989. Then he defeated his main rival and senior Congress leader Prakash Chandra Sethi and broke the Congress stronghold. Mahajan, popularly known as "Tai", had won the Lok Sabha elections from Indore eight times in a row between 1989 and 2014, but he stepped down after media reports on BJP's policy decision of not allowing leaders above 75 years of age to contest elections. Sensing the urgency of the times, she herself announced in 2019 that she would not contest the elections. After this, BJP had given ticket to Shankar Lalwani from Indore in the last Lok Sabha elections. Lalwani, who belongs to the Sindhi community, had defeated his nearest rival Congress candidate Pankaj Sanghvi by 5.47 lakh votes and the BJP retained the seat. There are about 1.25 lakh voters of Sindhi community in Indore Lok Sabha constituency.