Union Minister of State (MoS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the Rajya Sabha byelection from Madhya Pradesh, George Kurian, filed his nomination at the State Assembly in Bhopal on Wednesday.
Mr. Kurian, who was announced as the party’s candidate on Tuesday evening, is expected to be elected unopposed from the seat that was recently vacated by Union Cabinet Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
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Mr. Kurian, who hails from Kerala, is currently an MoS for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, as well as MoS for Minority Affairs.
Mr. Scindia had vacated the seat after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from his traditional Guna constituency. He was sent to the Rajya Sabha in 2020 by the BJP after he switched from the Congress with over 20 MLAs, bringing down the party’s 15-month-old State government then led by Kamal Nath.
Mr. Scindia’s term in the Rajya Sabha was going to end on June 21, 2026, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Mr. Scindia, then a Congress candidate, was defeated from the Guna Lok Sabha seat in 2019 by his former loyalist and BJP leader K.P. Yadav.
After Mr. Scindia was fielded by the BJP as a candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, there was speculation that Mr. Yadav could be sent to the Rajya Sabha.
A few other names had also been making the rounds as probables for a ticket to the Upper House of Parliament, including that of former State Home Minister Narottam Mishra.
Outreach in Kerala
Mr. Kurian’s nomination holds significance for the BJP in Kerala, where it has been constantly aiming for outreach to the dominant Christian community. The party recently bagged its first ever Lok Sabha seat in the southern State after actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, also an MoS in the Union government, won from the Thrissur constituency.
Mr. Kurian’s presence in the Rajya Sabha will ensure that the BJP has representation from Kerala in both Houses of Parliament.
The BJP would hope to benefit from the two leaders as it prepares for the Kerala Assembly election, scheduled in 2026.
At the State Assembly in Bhopal, Mr. Kurian was accompanied by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, State BJP chief V. D. Sharma, Deputy CMs Jagdish Devda and Rajendra Shukla, and other senior BJP leaders.
Comfortable win
The Congress has not nominated a candidate to the seat.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Anupam Rajan told The Hindu that apart from Mr. Kurian, two more nominations have been received for the seat. The last date to file nominations was Wednesday. Scrutiny will be carried out on Thursday.
“One person filed their nomination on Tuesday while Mr. Kurian and another candidate submitted their forms today (Wednesday). A total of four sets of nomination forms have been received as one nominee submitted two sets,” Mr. Rajan said.
The last date for withdrawal of nomination is August 27. Even if the other candidates remain in the fray, Mr. Kurian is expected to win comfortably given the BJP’s strong majority in the State Assembly.
The BJP won 163 constituencies in the 230-seat strong Madhya Pradesh Assembly in the November 2023 elections. The party recently won a bypoll in Amarwara of Chhindwara district with Kamlesh Shah, who had won on a Congress ticket, switched sides, and was re-elected as a BJP MLA. However, former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, currently a Union Cabinet Minister, resigned from the Budhni Assembly seat after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Vidisha, maintaining the BJP’s numbers at 163.
The Congress currently has 63 members in the Vidhan Sabha, down from the 66 won in the Assembly election, as apart from Mr. Shah, two more MLAs — Ramniwas Rawat of Vijaypura and Nirmala Sapre of Bina — have joined the ruling BJP.
Byelections for the three vacant Assembly seats are expected soon.
