Ahead of bypolls, Madhya Pradesh CM Chouhan looks to strengthen his reputation

Bypolls are due in three Rajya Sabha seats and one Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh

As four constituencies in Madhya Pradesh prepare for bypolls, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is looking to strengthen public perception of him as a proactive leader with no tolerance for corruption or wrongdoing.

Chouhan has been visiting poll-bound constituencies as part of his ‘Jan Darshan Yatra’ where he suspended three municipal officers who had corruption complaints against them. Chouhan has also been questioning officers thoroughly to ensure the benefits of government schemes reach the beneficiaries.

Raigaon, Prithvipur and Jobat Rajya Sabha constituencies and a key Lok Sabha constituency Khandwa will go to polls soon, the dates are yet to be determined. Raigaon’s BJP MLA Jugar Kishore Bagri died, necessitating a bypoll. Prithvipur and Jobat seats fell vacant when Congress MLAs Brijendra Singh Rathore and Kalawati Bhuriya died. Khandwa Lok Sabha seat’s bypoll comes after the death of BJP MP Nandkumar Singh Chauhan.

These bypolls are crucial for Shivraj Singh Chouhan who seeks to test public support for his government, especially the BJP could only come to power in 2019 with help from Jyotiraditya Scindia and his supporters from Congress, leading to the fall of Kamal Nath’s government in the key BJP state.

The polls will also help determine the four-time Chief Minister’s popularity throughout the state. The Jan Darshan Yatra started on September 12 to give Chouhan a chance to interact with people and find out their grievances regarding implementation of government schemes.

A political expert told The Indian Express that this is a routine step with Chouhan, who usually makes such moves to “strike a chord with the masses ahead of elections”. “It cannot be ignored that his new avatar appears to have been triggered by recent political developments in some BJP-ruled states where CMs have been changed,” one expert is quoted as saying by IE.

Some BJP members believe that Chouhan tries to portray that he is not a part of the corrupt lower level of bureaucracy with such rallies and public addresses.

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