Ujjain, November 8: The Madhya Pradesh Assembly election 2023 are fast approaching, with 5.6 crore electors having the power to vote. A direct battle between the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, Madhya Pradesh polls are viewed as the semi-final to the Lok Sabha Election 2024. Dabra assembly seat is one of the crucial constituencies that will go under the polls this month. The BJP has fielded Imrati Devi against Congress candidate Suresh Raje for the Dabra Elections 2023.

Classified as the rural seat, Dabra is located in the Gwalior district and Chambal area. Dabra is among the 35 of the 230 Madhya Pradesh Assembly seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes. The seat has 2,18,131 voters, with 1,16,836 male and 1,01,288 female voters. All eyes will be on the Dabra Election 2023 as Imarti Devi, who served as a minister from 2018 to 2020, switched sides and joined the BJP that year, causing the collapse of the Kamal Nath government. Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections 2023: Will Take India’s Economy Among Top Three in My Third Term, Says PM Narendra Modi (Watch Videos).

Candidates for Dabra Election 2023:

Imarti Devi 

The BJP has fielded Imarti Devi from the Dabra seat in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2023. A close aide of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Devi first entered the Madhya Pradesh Assembly from Dabra in 2008 by defeating Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Hargovind Jauhari. She retained her seat in the 2013 and 2018 elections before defecting to the BJP in 2020.

Suresh Raje

A Congress strongman, Suresh Raje defeated Imarti Devi in the 2020 by-polls by a huge margin. He has been entrusted with retaining the seat in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2023 that will take place this month. Raje found himself in the centre of a controversy last month when an obscene video allegedly featuring him surfaced on social media and went viral. He termed the viral video as "morphed" and claimed that the video is ‘highly edited’ and that he has been subjected to prolonged attempts of political and financial blackmail by those who recorded it. Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2023: Congress Leaders Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh Claim Being Jai-Veeru of 'Sholay', Will End Rule of 'Gabbar Singh' Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

History:

Contesting on a Congress ticket, Imarti Devi won the Dabra Election 2018 by securing over 90,000 votes. She defeated BJP's Kaptan Singh while retaining her seat. However, she defected from Congress in 2020 and joined the BJP. She had to lose the Dabra seat to Congress candidate Suresh Raje in the 2020 Dabra by-elections.

The Dabra Assembly Constituency Election 2023 will be held on November 17, as announced by the Election Commission on October 9. The counting of votes and announcement of results for the Dabra Assembly Constituency Election 2023 will be held on December 3, announced the Election Commission.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 08, 2023 07:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).