Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has been announced as the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the Guna constituency in Madhya Pradesh. This marks his return to the seat he lost to the BJP in the 2019 elections.
Guna, historically loyal to the Scindias, saw a major shift in allegiance with Mr. Scindia's loss in 2019.
The Guna Lok Sabha seat has been traditionally represented by the Scindias since 1957. Jyotiraditya Scindia entered politics in 2001 following the demise of his father, former Union minister Madhavrao Scindia, in a plane crash. He contested and won the Guna Lok Sabha seat the following year. However, he faced defeat in the 2019 elections at the hands of the BJP's KP Yadav.
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Following his loss, Jyotiraditya Scindia orchestrated a political upheaval in Madhya Pradesh, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government in 2020. He subsequently resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP after a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
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His departure from the Congress, followed by the resignation of 21 loyalist Congress MLAs, marked a significant realignment in state politics.
Scindia's transition to the BJP, a party co-founded by his grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia, earned him a Rajya Sabha seat and a ministerial position in the Union Cabinet. His aunts, Vasundhara Raje and Yashodhara Raje, also hold positions in the BJP.
The BJP's first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, comprising 195 names, includes Prime Minister Modi contesting from his constituency Varanasi, along with 34 ministers from the Centre and states. In Madhya Pradesh, former Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan has been fielded from the Vidisha constituency.
The announcement of candidates comes after the BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) convened to deliberate on the selection process. In the previous general elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a total of 303 seats. This time, BJP has started setting the tone for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with the slogan ‘Abki Bar 400 par’.