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Madhya Pradesh Congress chief seeks a hat-trick in Ghansor

The Bharatiya Janata Party is facing an uphill task in Ghansor, where tribal leader and Madhya Pradesh Congress president Urmila Singh is making all efforts for a third victory.

The BJP has fielded a woman candidate, Vimla Marskole to take on the MPCC chief, who is also a minister in the Digvijay Singh cabinet.

Having an electorate of over 127,000, of whom 48.52 per cent are women, the seat is reserved for scheduled tribes, as the Bhilala tribe of the region dominates local politics.

Besides Urmila Singh and Vimla Marskole, Dhul Singh Sallaya (Janata Dal), Kishan Lal Kalyan (Gondwana Ganatantra Party), Mohan Kumre and Jeevan Lal (both Independents) are also in the fray.

Singh is seeking votes on the basis of the welfare and development initiatives taken by her during the last five years. Her main rival Marskole, though well known as a social worker, is a new face in the political arena of the region.

It is believed there is some resentment in the BJP camp over her candidature as Faggan Singh, the BJP member of Parliament from Mandla, failed to get his brother nominated for the seat.

Singh seems to have better chances of winning. For, since the formation of the segment in 1977, the Congress has retained the seat four times while the BJP bagged it just once. Even during the Janata Party wave of 1977, Vasant Rao Uike retained the seat for the Congress.

Singh secured her first victory from Ghansor in 1985, defeating Kanthilal Dhruve (BJP) by over 9,000 votes. She was, however, defeated in 1990 by Thakur Dal Singh (BJP), who rebelled against the Congress and joined the BJP.

Singh avenged her previous defeat by trouncing Dal Singh (BJP) in the 1993 election.

UNI

Assembly Election '98

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