Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Friday announced that she would not contest the coming Lok Sabha election.
In a statement, Ms. Mahajan said the BJP appeared hesitant in declaring a candidate for the Indore seat, considered one of the safe seats of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh.
Ms. Mahajan has represented Indore eight times and is the longest serving woman Member of Parliament.
“The BJP has not declared a candidate for the Indore seat till now. Why is there this situation of uncertainty? It’s possible that the party may be hesitant to take a particular decision. I had, however, spoken to seniors in the party in this context quite early on and left the decision to them. It seems they still have some hesitancy with regard to the candidate for the seat. This is the reason why I’m making this declaration now that I will not be fighting the Lok Sabha polls, and leave the party free to make a decision on the seat,” she said.
Ms Mahajan is another on a list of BJP leaders past the age of 75 who have been quietly put to pasture with regard to electoral politics. The list comprises former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, former Union Ministers Murli Manohar Joshi and Shanta Kumar, senior leader Karia Munda, among others.
Dr. Joshi had written an open letter to the Kanpur voters (the seat he represents) that he had been called up by BJP general secretary Ram Lal to not contest the election.
Ms. Mahajan’s letter seems to indicate that while Mr. Lal may not have called her up, but other less direct hints, including not declaring a candidate for the seat while other seats in the same phase of polling have been declared, had been dropped at her.
Sources in the BJP said that since Indore goes to the polls in the last phase of the election, on May 19, the party was taking its time in deciding the candidate.
