When father cast vote for his son

BHOPAL: History was made in

Chhindwara

on Monday when CM Kamal Nath and his son

Nakul Nath

cast their votes. For the first time in

Madhya Pradesh

, a father is contesting for an assembly seat and his son from the Lok Sabha constituency.


Both are Congress candidates and name of the constituency is the same for father and son – Chhindwara assembly seat for Kamal Nath and Lok Sabha for Nakul Nath.

“This is my first election as an MLA,” CM Kamal Nath said soon after casting his vote at the Shikarpur primary school polling station. “I have been an MP and was also represented Chhindwara, the town from where I am contesting today,” he added.

Kamal Nath represented Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat nine terms from 1980. In May 2018 and six months before the assembly elections, AICC president Rahul Gandhi sent him to take charge of the party unit in the state. As state Congress president, Kamal Nath did not contest the assembly elections in November but was sworn-in chief minister on December 17 last year. Within next six months, he had to contest and win an assembly seat to retain his position.

In February, Kamal Nath’s supporter and former minister Deepak Saxena vacated Chhindwara assembly seat for the chief minister to contest a bypoll. BJP has fielded a 39-year-old local jeweller and former district BJYM (Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha – BJP youth wing) president Vivek Bunty Sahu against the chief minister.

Early on Monday morning, CM Kamal Nath with wife Alka Nath, son Nakul Nath and daughter-in-law Priya went to offer prayers at the Semariya Hanuman temple on the outskirts of Chhindwara town. Ten years ago, Kamal Nath as Union minister constructed this temple with a 101 ft tall Hanuman deity. “I have prayed and asked for blessings for the people of the state and development of Madhya Pradesh,” Kamal Nath said. He claimed that Congress will win all six seats in the state that went for polling on Monday including Sidhi, Chhindwara, Mandla, Shahdol, Balaghat and Jabalpur.

Reaching his polling booth at the primary school in Shikarpur within the Sausar assembly seat, the chief minister and his family cast their votes. But it was in dark. Last week, Nath took punitive action against 492 energy department officials for “sabotaging power supply”. But on Monday, he cast his vote in a black-out. It was the flash lights of television channel cameras that helped at the time. He later said that he will find-out why there was a power-cut. The state electricity board on Monday lodged an FIR saying it was purposeful mischief because at 8:15 am, the service station tripped because of outside sabotage.

Though Kamal Nath cast his vote for Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat, he failed to cast a vote for assembly constituency because he is a resident in the adjoining Sausar assembly seat.

With Kamal Nath contesting from the assembly seat bypoll, his elder son Nakul Nath is officially his political heir contesting for the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat. Over the past 40 years, Kamal Nath lost this seat only once in 1997 bypoll against former BJP chief minister Sundarlal Patwa. In 1996, after his name surfaced in the 1996 Hawala scam, Kamal Nath’s wife Alka Nath contested and won the seat. But, after being exonerated in the Hawala case, Alka Nath left the seat in 1997 and that called for a bypoll. Kamal Nath lost only one election and that was in 1997. Next year’s Lok Sabha in 1998, he was back representing Chhindwara.

Asked how anxious he is about Nakul Nath contesting from Chhindwara, the chief minister said, “Every election is an election. And being an election, I have full faith in voters of Chhindwara who have given be their love and affection for years.”