Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur to contest against Digvijay Singh of Congress

The BJP on Wednesday fielded Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, facing trial in Malegaon blast case, in Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal seat, where she is set to have a direct contest with Congress heavyweight and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh. Thakur, who is out on bail, had joined the BJP only hours before her name was announced as its candidate, underscoring the saffron party's attempt to bring the Hindutva plank at the centre stage of polls in the high profile constituency, which has been its bastion for many elections.

An NIA court had dropped charges against her under the stringent MCOCA but she and other co-accused are still facing other charges in the Malegaon case. Among other candidates, K P Yadav will be the BJP nominee from Guna, which is held by senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who is contesting again from here.

The BJP has named Raj Bahadur Singh and Ramakant Bhargav as its nominees from Sagar and Vidisha respectively. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had won from Vidisha in 2014 but she had announced that she will not fight polls this time due to health reasons.

(With inputs from agencies.)