With the Congress nominee for the Indore Lok Sabha seat having withdrawn from the contest, the party on Tuesday said it would not support any other candidate, PTI reported.
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari said that voters could press the None Of The Above, or NOTA button to teach the Bharatiya Janata Party a lesson.
On Monday, the Congress’ candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination and joined the BJP. Polling will be held in the constituency in the fourth phase on May 13.
Patwari on Tuesday said that the election in the seat would now be a fight “between the values of Indore and the BJP's arrogance”.
The state Congress chief added: “By murdering democracy in Indore on April 29, the BJP has turned the country's cleanest city into the most politically polluted one.”
The Indore Lok Sabha constituency has been held by the BJP since 1989. The Hindutva party’s Shankar Lalwani had won the seat by more than 5.4 lakh votes in 2019.
Bam withdrew his nomination and joined the BJP five days after a sessions court in Indore directed the police to add an attempt to murder charge against him in a 17-year-old dispute over a land deal.
Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders have claimed that the BJP forced his defection by adding the attempt to murder charge and threatening to file other cases.
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