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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced Ashutosh Tiwari as its candidate for the upcoming Datia Assembly bypoll in Madhya Pradesh, replacing former state Home Minister Narottam Mishra, who had contested and lost the seat in the 2023 state assembly elections.
Reacting to his nomination, Tiwari thanked the party's top leadership for reposing faith in him. "I bow before and thank the party leadership for choosing an ordinary party worker like me as the BJP candidate from the Datia Assembly constituency. I express my gratitude to all our senior leaders for giving me this opportunity," Tiwari told ANI. When asked whether the bypoll would be challenging since the BJP had lost the seat in the previous Assembly election, Tiwari dismissed the suggestion and praised former minister Narottam Mishra. "Narottam Mishra is one of our party's senior leaders. Whatever happened at that time may have been due to certain circumstances. He continues to be a respected senior leader of the BJP," he said. Expressing confidence in the party's leadership, Tiwari said the BJP would contest the bypoll under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state BJP president Hemant Khandelwal. "We have the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a global icon, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state BJP president Hemant Khandelwal. We will receive guidance from all our senior leaders, and everything will go well," he added. The Datia Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh fell vacant following the disqualification of Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti. He was disqualified from the state legislative assembly after his conviction in a fraud case. Notably, Bharti had defeated former MP Home Minister and BJP leader Narottam Mishra from the seat in the 2023 Assembly elections. Mishra, a senior BJP leader, represented the Datia Assembly constituency for three consecutive terms after winning the seat in 2008, 2013 and 2018. He, however, lost the constituency in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. Despite expectations that the senior BJP leader would be renominated for the bypoll, the party instead fielded Ashutosh Tiwari. The polling is scheduled to be held on July 30 and the counting of votes will take place on August 3, the ECI said in an official statement. (ANI)
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