The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday expelled 53 leaders from its Madhya Pradesh unit for “indiscipline,” ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

The expelled leaders include, Sartaji Singh, former minister Ramkrishna Kusmaria and Bhind MLA Narendra Kushwaha.

Singh defected to the Congress after the BJP dropped him from the Seoni-Malwa assembly constituency. The two-time MLA is now the Congress' official candidate from the Hoshangabad assembly constituency.

Former minister and an influential leader from Bundelkhand, Kusmaria has announced that he will contest as an independent candidate from Patharia, after being denied ticket by the BJP. All efforts to appease him went into vain. Another former minister KL Agarwal has filed nomination from Damoh.

Gwalior's former mayor Samiksha Gupta too will be contesting as an independent from Gwalior South. Kushwaha will be contesting from Bhind as an independent. Another ex-MLA Brahmanand Ratnakar will contest from Bhopal's Berasia assembly constituency.

Both the BJP and the Congress are facing dissension withing their ranks after the deadline for withdrawing nominations in Madhya Pradesh elections ended on Wednesday.

The dissenters from the Congress include Xavier Meda from Jhabua, Surendra Singh from Burhanpur and Vishal Rawat from Jobat. Meda and Rawat have reportedly been expelled from the Congress, according to News18.

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First Published:Nov 15, 2018 11:39 AM IST