In a fresh embarrassment for the Congress party just days before the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Akshay Kanti Bam, its candidate for the Indore Lok Sabha seat withdrew from the seat and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Polling in Indore is scheduled to be held on May 7 and today was the last day for the withdrawal of nominations for this phase of polls.
Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargia later shared in a post on X that Bam had joined the saffron party after withdrawing his nomination. “We welcome Congress’ Lok Sabha candidate from Indore Akshay Kanti Bam to the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president JP Nadda and state unit chief VD Sharma,” he said sharing a picture of the former Congress leader in the post.
Nominations were filed for the Indore Lok Sabha seat till April 25 and APril 29 was the last day for withdrawing nominations. Bam had filed his nomination on April 24 where he declared assets worth Rs 57 crore, including a watch worth Rs 14 lakh.
A few days ago, BJP candidate from Gujarat’s Surat was declared as the winner from the seat unopposed after the returning officer rejected the nomination of the Congress candidate from the seat, Nilesh Kumbhani. BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was announced the winner unopposed after eight other candidates also withdrew their nominations.