Pawai, a seat that saw many controversial MLAs

Bhopal: Assembly constituency Pawai in Panna district which has been declared vacated, has recently been in the news for two of its legislators – one sitting and another former. Thirty years ago, this was the same seat where voters were openly threatened with death.

Madhya Pradesh state assembly announced Pawai as vacated after a special court in Bhopal last week sentenced sitting BJP MLA Prahlad Lodhi with imprisonment for two years in a case of assault on a tehsildar in August 2014.

Six weeks ago, a former legislator from the same constituency Brijendra Pratap Singh hit news when police arrested the high-profile honey-trap scandal mastermind Sweta Jain from his house in the posh Riviera Towne residential complex here.

Pawai has always grabbed headlines for its legislators starting from its most controversial Samajwadi Party strongman Ashok Veer Vikram Singh alias Bhaiyya Raja who was accused in more than twenty criminal cases and convincted with life imprisonment for the murder of his niece Vasundhara Bundela. It is here that voters heard pre-election slogans of, “Mohar lagi naa haathi par, Toh goli paregi chhati par, Laash milegi ghaati (Vote for elephant or else be shot dead and body will be found in the valley).” The dreaded Bhaiyya Raja had given that slogan when he contested the seat as an independent candidate.

Former minister Brijendra Pratap Singh who claimed he rented out his house to Sweta Jain, was two times MLA from Pawai. In 2003, Brijendra Pratap Singh won the seat defeating his closest rival and Samajwadi Party candidate Ashok Veer Vikram Singh alias Bhaiyya Raja by a margin of 15,084. Bhaiyya Raja was feared and legend has it that he allegedly fed his opponents to crocodiles.

Brijendra Pratap Singh won the seat again in 2008 but by a slim margin of 910 votes. In 2013, he was defeated by Congress candidate and former minister Mukesh Naik by a margin of 11,695 votes. His defeat, made the BJP to weigh the options in 2018 when Prahlad Lodhi filed his nominations as Samajwadi Party candidate on November 4. Four days later, BJP decided to shift Brijendra Pratap Singh to Panna and brought Prahlad Lodhi into the party.

Lodhi claimed he was inspired by the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan when he joined the BJP. The BJP’s mathematics for this constituency with a predominant Brahmin vote-bank succeeded. The contest in Pawai is triangular with brahmins, thakurs and OBCs. Among OBCs, the Lodhis are one of the strongest in the Bundelkhand districts of Chhattarpur, Damoh and Panna. Congress candidate Mukesh Naik is a Brahmin and BJP brought in Samajwadi Party candidate Prahlad Lodhi to garner OBC votes. Lodhi defeated Congress heavyweight Mukesh naik by a margin of 23,680 votes.