Jyotiraditya Scindia to contest Lok Sabha polls from Madhya Pradesh's Guna, a seat he lost to BJP in 2019

The Scindia family has had strong ties with the region, but Jyotiraditya Scindia's defeat in 2019 reflected a departure from this historical allegiance.

The Guna Lok Sabha constituency has traditionally been held by the Scindias since 1957.

Jyotiraditya Scindia entered politics in 2001 following the demise of his father, former Union minister Madhavrao Scindia, in a plane crash. The following year, he contested and won the Guna Lok Sabha seat.

However, in the 2019 elections, he was defeated by the BJP's KP Yadav.

Soon after, the political dynamics in Madhya Pradesh underwent a major transformation. In 2020, Scindia orchestrated a coup that led to the downfall of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh.

Subsequently, he resigned from Congress and joined the BJP along with 21 Congress MLAs.

While Jyotiraditya Scindia’s father was in Congress, his grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia was one of the co-founders of the BJP and his two paternal aunts, Vasundhara Raje and Yashodhara Raje, are prominent leaders of the BJP.

In the first list of 195 candidates, released this evening, BJP has finalised 24 names for Madhya Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections.

Senior BJP leader Shivraj Chouhan, who was replaced as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister by Mohan Yadav following the assembly elections last year, has been nominated to contest from the Vidisha constituency.