Lok Sabha election: Focus on jobs, education, crimes & health in crucial Dhar fight

Mhow: Seven candidates are in the fray for Dhar Lok Sabha seat as polling is scheduled on May 13. Savitri Thakur of BJP and Radheshyam Muvel of Congress, Dhoom Singh Mandloi of Tanda as BSP candidate, Jitendra Muniya from Bhartiya Adivasi Party and Vikram Wasuniya from Janta Congress and independent candidates Shivaji Patel Kalmi and Sunil Ajrawat are all set to slug it out for the post of Dhar MP.
BJP has fielded Thakur, who had been the MP from Dhar from 2014 to 2019. In the last election, BJP's Chatar Singh Darbar won over Dinesh Girwal of Congress by a margin of 156029 votes. Nearly 18000 votes were given to NOTA and BSP candidate Ram Singh Kawache had secured 13827 votes. This parliamentary seat was formed in 1962 and being the birthplace of Kushabhau Thakre, one of the founders of BJP, Jansangh candidate Bharat Singh Chohan won the first four elections from 1962 to 1977. Congress held this seat from 1980 to 1991 and Vikram Verma secured victory in 1996.
There are 1731 polling booths spread across Dhar, Kukshi, Manawar, Sardarpur, Gandhwani, Dahi, Badnawar and Rajgarh tehsils of Dhar district along with Mhow tehsil of Indore district. Tribals comprise most prominent caste group of this constituency while other prominent castes are Brahmin, Kshatriya, Yadav and Kurmi. Others include Muslims, Teli and Dhanuks.
Main issues of this constituency are unemployment, education, health and law & order. A sizeable tribal population had to migrate to other states for employment because of insufficient employment opportunities here. Bhojshala-Kamaal Moulana Mosque issue has been in the forefront in Dhar, which now has become a very important issue.
Pithampur is the industrial hub of the state and is a part of this parliamentary seat. Issues of Pithampur are a bit different from those of other parts of Dhar. The industrial area needs better education and health services, and the industrialists and industrial experts say that there is a need for infrastructure upgrade here. They also feel that Pithampur has the issue of connectivity which needs to be addressed. Mhow, a part of Dhar parliamentary seat was with Indore seat but after it was detached from Indore and added to Dhar. The interest among people of Mhow has somewhat subsided both major parties have not been in touch with the people of Mhow, for which voter turnout is like to be an issue here.