Chhindwara Lok Sabha Election: Mayor Urges Voters To Support Congress Despite Joining BJP

Amidst the voting in the 1st phase of Lok Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara, the city mayor's Vikram Ahake, who recently switched to BJP from Congress, urged the people to vote in favour of the Congress. Taking u-turn, Ahake posted a video on social media urging people to vote for the Congress candidate Nakul Nath, son of former Chief Minister Kamal Nath. The BJP has fielded Vivek Bunty Sahu and several top party leaders have visited the constituency to campaign for him. Chhindwara is one of the six Lok Sabha seats where the first phase of the parliamentary elections is currently taking place.

“Soon after joining a political party, I was feeling suffocated. I felt that I was not doing the right thing with a person who has developed Chhindwara,” Ahake said in the video. Nath always devoted himself to the constituency’s betterment, be it the education sector, providing treatment to people or carrying out development works, said Ahake.

“In the future, I will get a lot of opportunities to do politics. I don't know what will happen to me, but if I don’t stand with my leader Kamal Nath and Nakul Nath today… as they have done a lot for me… I appeal to the voters to ensure the victory of Nakul Nath (and his father Kamal Nath) with a huge margin,” Ahake said in the video message.

Mayor Ahake joined the BJP on April 1 in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state party president Vishnu Dutt Sharma in the state capital. Among the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, Chhindwara is the only constituency that the BJP lost in 2019. The seat has been claimed nine times by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.