After the Congress has declared candidature of Arun Shrivastava from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency, now it is clear that there will be direct fight between Congress and BJP. BJP has already fielded Alok Sharma from Bhopal.

Congress has declared Arun Srivastava as its candidate for Bhopal Lok Sabha seat. He is considered a supporter of former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh.

According to Madhya Pradesh Congress (PCC) sources, the party's Central Election Committee has given a ticket to Arun after discussion with Congress leader Digvijay.

Congress has fielded Arun Srivastava for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat with the aim of securing the votes of Kayastha community. The Kayastha community has a large number of votes here. Arun Srivastava is considered to have a good influence among the voters of the society.

Earlier, on the evening of March 23, 2024, Congress had appointed Anokhi Patel as the District President of Bhopal Rural Congress in place of Arun Srivastava. Since then Arun Srivastava's ticket was considered final. A few hours later, at 11 pm, AICC released the list of candidates.

Along with Arun Srivastava, this will be the fourth consecutive contest on Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, when Congress has given ticket to a new candidate from here. Earlier, Congress had fielded former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh from Bhopal in 2019, PC Sharma in 2014 and Surendra Singh Thakur in 2009. Souces claimed that the only presence of Arun in the political arena is that his mother was District Panchayat chairperson around 25 years ago. Since the BJP came to power in 2003, Arun Shrivastava was not seen in active politics.