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Lok Sabha Elections 2019: BJP looks to retain Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh
Since 1989, the seat has largely voted for the BJP, only once swinging in favour of the Congress in 1999. Hoping for a repeat performance of 2014, the BJP has fielded Vishnu Datt Sharma from Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat despite opposition from some quarters.
The Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 29 Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh.
The Khajuraho Parliamentary constituency came into existence after the delimitation exercise of 1957. It is one of the most crucial Lok Sabha seats of the state.
The Khajuraho Lok Sabha seat has been represented in Parliament by major leaders such as Uma Bharti. Since 1989, the seat has largely voted for the BJP, only once swinging in favour of the Congress in 1999 when it elected Satyavrat Chaturvedi who defeated the BJP’s Akhand Pratap Singh Yadav. Chaturvedi was defeated by the BJP’s Ramkrishna Kushmariya in the 2004 elections when the party won back the seat.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Nagendra Singh had defeated the Congress’s Raja Pateria by 247,490 votes.
Read: All you need to know about Madhya Pradesh
This time around, the BJP has fielded Vishnu Datt Sharma as its candidate despite opposition from some quarters within the party against the Congress’s Kavita Singh Natiraja. There was also talk of the possibility of Uma Bharati being fielded once again from the constituency which she had represented for nearly 20 years between 1989 and 1998.
Here’s all you need to know about Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency
State: Madhya Pradesh
Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Khajuraho
Date of polling: May 6
Contesting candidates: Vishnu Datt Sharma (BJP), Kavita Singh Natiraja (Congress)
Sitting MP, Party: Nagendra Singh, BJP
Winning margin in 2014: 208,731
Runner up name, party: Raja Pateria, Congress
Number of voters in 2014: 874,531
Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 53
Number of polling booths in 2014: 1,864
Number of women voters: 357,136
