The Congress announced the second list of candidates for the by-polls to be carried on 28 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh. The list disclosed by Congress national general secretary Mukul Wasnik comprises names of nine candidates according to the state Congress.

With these nine candidates Congress has disclosed the names of 24 candidates as of now. It published the first list including 15 names on eleventh of September. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to disclose the names of its candidates. The Election Commission of India is yet to publish the dates of the by-polls. Nevertheless, it had recently said that the ballot would be held along with Bihar state assembly polls by November end.

The candidates in the second list include ex-BJP MLA Parul Sahu from Sagar who recently joined the Congress. She will contest from the Surakhi assembly seat in Sagar district that she represented from 2013 to 2018. She was denied a ticket by the BJP in the 2018 assembly elections. From BJP, it is minister for transport and revenue in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet, Govind Rajput who is likely to contest from the seat. Rajput resigned from the seat on 12^th of March this year as a Congress MLA to later join the BJP.

Further candidates and the districts for which their candidature has been declared by the Congress comprise Pankaj Upadhyaya from Joura assembly seat, Ajay Kushwaha from Sumaoli, Satish Sikarwar- Gwalior East, Harivallabh Shukla- Pohri, Kanhaiya Ram Lodhi- Mungaoli, Uttam Raj Narain Singh- Mandhata, Abhishek Singh Bana- Badnawar and Rakesh Patidar from Suwasara.

State BJP leader Dr Hitesh Bajpai has said that selection of and announcing the names of candidates are internal matters of the Congress. He added that the list suggests that Congress does not have much choice to select among party leaders and merit of the party leaders has been ignored which will soon be reflected in the rumblings in the party.

In this second list, it seems that the Congress and Kamal Nath have placed their faith in the young faces. But, caste is also among the deciding factors for INC that has guided the announcement of the names in the list. Placing of Ajab Singh Kushwaha, from Sumaoli is an indicator of this decisive factor. Kushwaha had been earlier associated with BSP from the seat in 2008 and 2013. In 2018 he joined BJP before finally coming under the tent of Congress. It is expected that he will face his old rival Aidal Singh Kasana in Sumaoli. Caste will therefore be a guiding factor in the upcoming by-polls.