Bhopal, September 29: Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, who is the aunt of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, has announced that she will not contest the upcoming state Assembly elections. The fourth-time sitting MLA from Shivpuri constituency and two-times former MP from Gwalior has conveyed her decision to the state leadership.

In a letter to the state leadership, she has cited health reasons behind her desire to not contest the polls. Confirming the development, state BJP president V.D. Sharma told journalists here Friday that "Yashodhara Ji is our senior and respected leader, who had informed the party around three months back about her unwillingness to contest the polls, due to pressing health reasons." Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2023: BJP Keeps Race for CM’s Post Open for Upcoming Vidhan Sabha Polls by Naming Seven Heavyweight Candidates in Second List.

Yashodhara Raje Scindia, the youngest among the five children of veteran BJP leaders Vijaya Raje Scindia had won the Shivpuri seat in 1998, 2003, 2013, and 2018 and also won two Lok Sabha elections from Gwalior in 2007 and 2009.

The 69-year-old cabinet minister’s desire of not contesting the coming Assembly polls, meanwhile, has fuelled speculations about possibility of her nephew Jyotiraditya Scindia making his Vidhan Sabha poll debut from either his aunt’s Shivpuri seat or either the Bamori or Kolaras seats. These three assembly seats are the parts of his Lok Sabha seat Guna, which he lost to BJP’s K. P. Yadav in 2019 general elections. Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023 Key Candidates List: From Kailash Vijayvargiya to Narendra Singh Tomar, Know Names of High-Profile BJP Nominees.

Speculations were particularly strengthened, due to the BJP naming seven of its sitting MPs, including three Union Ministers, as candidates in the 39-strong second list for MP Assembly polls released recently.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 29, 2023 09:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).