BJP denies nominations for 50 lawmakers in Madhya Pradesh

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party has dropped over 50 sitting lawmakers in its desperate bid to retain power in Madhya Pradesh.

The party has so far announced its candidates for 217 seats for the 230-member state assembly, with the third list comprising 38 candidates announced on Monday.

Nine of 16 sitting lawmakers were denied re-nomination, taking the total number of lawmakers left high and dry to 54.

The future is still uncertain for a few more, since the party's Central Election Committee has authorised BJP president Rajnath Singh to announce candidates for the remaining 13 seats in consultation with the incumbent chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

BJP had 166 members in the assembly with effective strength of 227 when the Election Commission announced poll schedule last month. Polling is slated to take place in the state on November 27.

Although the decision has created problems at the ground level, it is a continuation of a strategy adopted successfully in Gujarat this year.

The party managed to retain power for the third consecutive term by denying nominations to a large number of sitting state lawmakers and succeeding in deflecting the anti-incumbency factor.