Gwalior, Mar 2 (UNI) In Gwalior, everything revolves around the palace and even in the 60th year of Independence, palace politics is dominating the Lok Sabha byelection.
Departing from tradition, for the sake of opposition, scion of the royal family and Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindhia has joined the campaign trail against a member of the Scindia clan and Madhya Pradesh Tourism Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the BJP nominee for the March 8 bypoll here.
Jyotiraditya's initial absence from the campaigning gave credence to the belief that members of the royal family were insulated from within and did not come out openly against each other.
The only exception was the Lok Sabha election of 1984 when the then Rajmata Vijay Raje Scindia-supported BJP nominee Atal Behari Vajpayee had to face defeat as Mr Madhavrao Scindia filed his nomination as a Congress candidate at the last minute.
On all other occasions, the palace nominees romped home as the royal family members preferred to contest from comparatively safer Guna, their fiefdom.
The by-election was necessitated by disqualification of Mr Ram Sevak Babuji (Congress) who was caught in the cash-for-query scam.
Ms Yashodhara Raje Scindia is pitted in a 24-cornered contest with businessman Ashok Singh of the Congress as her main rival.
Besides 18 Independents, Mr Munnalal Goyal of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party nominee Kedar Singh Vidhuri and Lok Janshakti Party's Phool Singh Baraiya are also in the fray. Dreaded dacoit Rambabu Gadaria's sister, Ramshri Baghel, is also in the fray as Rashtriya Samanata Dal nominee.
About 14 lakh electorate are expected to exercise their franchise in 1470 polling stations on March 8. The votes will be counted on March 11.
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Departing from tradition, for the sake of opposition, scion of the royal family and Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindhia has joined the campaign trail against a member of the Scindia clan and Madhya Pradesh Tourism Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the BJP nominee for the March 8 bypoll here.
Jyotiraditya's initial absence from the campaigning gave credence to the belief that members of the royal family were insulated from within and did not come out openly against each other.
The only exception was the Lok Sabha election of 1984 when the then Rajmata Vijay Raje Scindia-supported BJP nominee Atal Behari Vajpayee had to face defeat as Mr Madhavrao Scindia filed his nomination as a Congress candidate at the last minute.
On all other occasions, the palace nominees romped home as the royal family members preferred to contest from comparatively safer Guna, their fiefdom.
The by-election was necessitated by disqualification of Mr Ram Sevak Babuji (Congress) who was caught in the cash-for-query scam.
Ms Yashodhara Raje Scindia is pitted in a 24-cornered contest with businessman Ashok Singh of the Congress as her main rival.
Besides 18 Independents, Mr Munnalal Goyal of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party nominee Kedar Singh Vidhuri and Lok Janshakti Party's Phool Singh Baraiya are also in the fray. Dreaded dacoit Rambabu Gadaria's sister, Ramshri Baghel, is also in the fray as Rashtriya Samanata Dal nominee.
About 14 lakh electorate are expected to exercise their franchise in 1470 polling stations on March 8. The votes will be counted on March 11.
MORE UNI
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