Highway blocked for 12 hours, stones pelted: Major protest by BJP leader Narottam Mishra's supporters over poll ticket

Supporters of former Madhya Pradesh home minister and BJP leader Narottam Mishra held protests on Friday and Saturday over the ruling party’s decision to nominate Ashutosh Tiwari as its candidate for the upcoming Datia assembly bypoll, replacing Mishra, who had contested and lost the seat in 2023.Congress leader Rajendra Bharti had defeated Mishra, who was the state's home minister at the time, by more than 7,500 votes in the 2023 assembly elections.However, in April this year, a Delhi court sentenced Bharti to three years in prison in a cheating case, resulting in his disqualification as an MLA and leading to a byelection. He was later granted bail.Protest over no ticket to Narottam MishraThe decision to field Tiwari for the bypoll came as a major disappointment for Mishra, who was expecting to be chosen as the candidate and had already bought a nomination form, news agency PTI reported, quoting party sources.More than 3,000 protesters blocked NH-44 for nearly 12 hours, leaving the Datia superintendent of police and several other police personnel injured before security forces removed the protesters and detained some of them, officials told the news agency. One supporter said they would not withdraw the protest unless "Narottam Dada" was given the ticket and added that they were prepared to quit the BJP over the issue.Datia collector Swapnil Wankhede told reporters that angry supporters blocked the national highway for nearly 11-12 hours. Despite repeated requests to clear the road, they allegedly threw stones at the police, leading them to fire teargas shells to disperse the crowd, he said.He added that the Datia SP, other senior officers and police personnel were injured during the violence. Wankhede also said the protesters damaged police vehicles and other vehicles. Datia SP Mayur Khandelwal said more than 3,000 protesters disturbed law and order in Datia town, attempted to shut markets and continued the road blockade for nearly 12 hours. He said more than 6 police personnel were injured in the stone-pelting."We tried to pacify them, citing the enforcement of the model code of conduct in the town. However, after they refused to back down and pelted stones, cops fired teargas shells to control the situation," the senior officer said.Some protesters were arrested and warned that strict action would be taken if they turned to violence again, the SP said.After Friday's development, several party office-bearers, including the district unit president and local corporators, resigned from the BJP in protest, PTI reported, citing sources.Datia assembly bypollThe Election Commission recently announced the schedule for bypolls to 3 assembly constituencies across the country, including Datia. The other 2 assembly seats are in Bihar and Gujarat.The BJP on Friday announced Ashutosh Tiwari as its candidate for the Datia assembly bypoll, a decision that angered Mishra's supporters.Polling will be held on July 30, while counting of votes will take place on August 3, according to the schedule.With inputs from agencies