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15 MPs represent same seat several times

At least 15 politicians in Madhya Pradesh have the distinction of representing their Lok Sabha constituency several times in succession.

Former state Congress president Parsaram Bhardawaj and senior tribal leader Dalip Singh Bhuria have won their respective seats five times in a row as Congress candidates.

While Bhardwaj is seeking a sixth term from Sarangarh, Bhuria, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on the eve of the Lok Sabha poll, will be the BJP nominee from Jhabua.

Former Union minister Madhavrao Scindia, who represented Guna from 1971 to 1980, moved to Gwalior when the Congress fielded him against BJP veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the 1984 election.

The four-time winner fought three elections on a Congress symbol but, in 1996, Scindia was denied a nomination after the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a chargesheet against him in the hawala scam. Scindia floated his own party -- the Madhya Pradesh Vikas Congress -- and won the Gwalior seat.

As many as eight BJP candidates, including two women, have scored a hat-trick in their respective constituencies.

Senior BJP leader Vijayaraje Scindia, Madhavrao's mother, has won the Lok Sabha election from Guna since 1989. She is again is seeking re-election from the same constituency.

Another BJP veteran Uma Bharti is trying to retain the Khajuraho constituency which returned her in the last three elections.

Other three-timers include former Union minister Sartaj Singh from Hoshangabad, former bureaucrat S C Verma from Bhopal, former BJP state president Laxminarayan Pandey from Mandsaur, BJP members Sumitra Mahajan from Indore, Satyanarayan Jatia from Ujjain and Rameshwar Patidar from Khargone. All these candidates are again in the fray on BJP tickets.

While Sartaj Singh has been pitted against Congress heavyweight Arjun Singh from Hoshangabad, S C Verma is to take on former Union minister Arif Baig in Bhopal.

Ramkrishna Kusumaria (BJP) from Damoh, Khelsai Singh (Congress) from Sarguja, Pawan Diwan (Congress) from Mahasamund and Vishweshwar Bhagat (Congress) from Balaghat have retained their seats twice and are trying to achieve a hat-trick.

UNI

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