With the by-election schedule announced on Tuesday for Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa parliamentary constituency and Jobat, Raigaon and Prithvipur Assembly constituencies, electoral activities are gathering momentum even as the Model Code of Conduct became effective in the areas.

The process of submission of nomination papers will commence on October 1, with issuance of notification, October 8 is the last date for submitting documents, scrutiny is scheduled on October 11, the deadline for withdrawal of candidature expires on October 13, voting is to be conducted on October 30 and counting is to take place on November 2.

Khandwa became vacant due to the demise of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s former state president Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan who represented it in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th Lok Sabhas. The other by-polls have been necessitated by the deaths of Alirajpur District’s Jobat (Scheduled Tribes) legislator Kalawati Bhuriya (Congress), Satna District’s Raigaon (Scheduled Castes) MLA Jugul Kishor Bagri (BJP) and Niwari District’s Prithvipur representative Brajendra Singh Rathore (Congress).

In Khandwa, the BJP may face a challenge in the form of Congress leader and ex-Union minister Arun Subhashchandra Yadav who represented it in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabhas. However, both parties are yet to announce their candidates. The ruling BJP is treading carefully following its recent defeat in Damoh assembly constituency.

BJP state Media In-charge Lokendra Parashar told, "Congress state President and erstwhile chief minister Kamal Nath is nowhere visible on the field and he seems to have passed on that responsibility to former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh.”