Will Pragya be the third woman MP from Bhopal?

BHOPAL: When it comes to victory strike rate, women candidates have outsmarted men in the prestigious Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency. Of the four occasions when women candidates were fielded from this seat —regardless of the BJP or the Congress — they won it thrice.

Pragya Singh Thakur

is the second BJP and third woman candidate contesting from the Bhopal parliamentary seat.

Maimoona Sultan of the Congress represented Bhopal twice between 1957 and 1967 and Uma Bharti won the seat for the BJP in 1999. However, Maimoona Sultan lost the 1967 general election, when Jagannathrao Joshi won the seat for the Bharatiya Jan Sangh.

BJP’s first ever woman candidate from Bhopal was former chief minister Uma Bharti.

However, whether Hindu hardliner Sadhvi Pragya would be able to continue the good strike rate of women candidates by winning the seat for the BJP would be known only on May 23, when the Lok Sabha poll results are declared.

Political pundits point out that voters of Bhopal have always welcomed women candidates. Political analyst Girija Shankar said Hindu-Muslim votes in Bhopal are divided when male candidates are contesting, but the votes are less divided when a woman candidate is the contestant. At least, this is what the trend has been so far. But whether Pragya would be able to turn voters in her favour will be interesting to watch, he said.

Bhopal LS seat is suddenly getting all the limelight after BJP announced Pragya, the Malegaon blast accused, as its candidate. BJP is winning the seat since 1989, but to counter this winning streak, Congress has fielded former chief minister and heavyweight Digvijaya Singh. BJP is still confident to win the seat, while Congress leaders point out that there is no chance for the BJP in Bhopal this time.

BJP state spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said Pragya is not just a sadhvi, but also a woman, who suffered immense torture. In her meetings, she has said that she would fight against atrocities against women and it will be a fight for justice.

“Pragya would definitely win the Bhopal LS seat and the party is confident of her victory”, Agrawal added.

Congress state media committee vice-president Bhupendra Gupta said, “BJP is trying to polarise the upcoming elections by fielding Pragya Thakur, but it will miserably fail in its bid. It is an irony of sorts that the sitting BJP MP was fielded as a dummy candidate. BJP could not find anyone to contest against Digvijaya Singh. Fielding Pragya is like giving a walkover to Digvijaya. Congress would definitely win the Bhopal LS seat”.