Curious Case Of Datia Bypoll: BJP Drops Veteran, Supporters Erupt In Protest

"Do not build your home on the shore merely because the ocean's tide has receded. I promise, I shall return."

Dr Narottam Mishra delivered this poetic warning after losing the Datia Assembly seat in 2023. It was not meant as a farewell. It was a declaration that one of Madhya Pradesh BJP's most powerful leaders would return to the electoral battlefield.

For nearly four months, Mishra appeared to be preparing to fulfil that promise. He toured Datia, met workers, held public meetings, acknowledged past mistakes and rebuilt contact with the constituency he had represented three consecutive terms. He even purchased nomination papers after the by-election was announced.

But in a dramatic, last-minute political turn, the BJP fielded former divisional organisation secretary Ashutosh Tiwari delivering Mishra a rude shock.

Tiwari, who has an RSS background, is known for working within the organisation than contesting elections.

The decision did not merely end Mishra's anticipated comeback. It plunged the Datia BJP into open rebellion. Supporters took to the streets, women lay down on roads, office-bearers announced resignations, slogans were raised against the party's candidate and the Gwalior-Jhansi highway was blocked. The protest later escalated into stone-pelting and police action, turning a dispute over ticket distribution into a major political and law-and-order crisis for the ruling party.

According to party sources, the state BJP leadership had seriously considered Mishra and, after consultations involving Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, had conveyed his name to the central leadership. The final decision, however, went in favour of Ashutosh Tiwari.

The BJP has not officially disclosed the reasoning behind the change. Sources within the party cite electoral feedback, local opposition, organisational considerations and the leadership's assessment of the candidate most likely to win.

Mishra's supporters pelted stones and blocked roads

The political irony goes well beyond Datia. After the 2023 Assembly election, the BJP entrusted Mishra with an important organisational responsibility. Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the party launched a major campaign to induct leaders and workers from the Congress and other organisations. Mishra was in charge of this exercise. In April 2024, he claimed that around 1.26 lakh people had joined the BJP in a single day, and that more than 2.58 lakh joined over three months, most of them from the Congress.

He became the public face of a campaign designed to weaken the Opposition and expand the BJP's organisation. Two years later, however, the leader who helped open the BJP's doors to thousands of political entrants could not secure the party's ticket for the seat he had won three times.

That contrast has given the Datia decision its sharpest political edge.
Mishra was considered valuable enough to engineer defections, manage political entrants and help the BJP expand its base but not to be fielded from his own political stronghold. His supporters now see the denial not as an ordinary ticket decision but as a public downgrading of a leader who once occupied the number-two position in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

The candidate change is also being interpreted through the prism of Madhya Pradesh's internal power balance. Narottam Mishra was not merely a former MLA seeking another opportunity. As Home Minister in the Shivraj Singh government, he was among the most influential members of the Cabinet. A victory in the Datia by-election could have immediately revived speculation about his return to the Cabinet.

Questions would then have followed over which portfolio he would get and how his re-entry would alter the balance within the Mohan Yadav government.

The state's BJP ecosystem already accommodates several powerful figures. Kailash Vijayvargiya and Prahlad Patel are senior ministers, while Narendra Singh Tomar occupies the constitutionally important post of Assembly Speaker. Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jyotiraditya Scindia remain influential Union ministers, and VD Sharma retains considerable political weight in the organisation.

Against that backdrop, political observers believe the central leadership may not have wanted to create another strong and independent centre of authority in Bhopal.

In replacing Mishra with Tiwari, the BJP did not abandon its broader social equation. Datia has a substantial Brahmin electorate, while Jatav and Kushwaha voters are also considered decisive. Instead of moving away from a Brahmin candidate, the party selected another Brahmin face with a strong organisational and RSS background.

Tiwari has sought to respond with conciliation rather than confrontation. 

After his candidature was announced, he described Mishra as a mentor and guardian figure. He said he had received Mishra's blessings and claimed that the former minister had called to congratulate him.

While leaving the BJP office, Tiwari appealed to party leaders and workers to be magnanimous and bless him.

Amid the protests, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav publicly congratulated Ashutosh Tiwari and extended advance wishes for his victory. The timing of the message was important. As resignations and demonstrations raised speculation over whether the party might reconsider its decision, the Chief Minister's endorsement indicated that the leadership stood firmly behind the announced candidate.

The Datia by-election has also become a prestige contest for state BJP president Hemant Khandelwal. When NDTV asked before the candidate announcement whether Narottam Mishra would be fielded, Khandelwal had said the state leadership had discussed the matter with key leaders and forwarded the suggestions to the central leadership. He maintained that the final decision would be taken n Delhi and expressed confidence that the BJP would win.

The party's central leadership has now made that decision.

For Khandelwal, the challenge is no longer simply to defeat the Congress. He must demonstrate that the organisation can enforce discipline, manage dissent and campaign effectively after denying the ticket to one of its most prominent state leaders.

For Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, too, the election has acquired special importance.

Had Mishra contested, much of the campaign management would have rested on the former minister's own network and political stature. With Tiwari as the candidate, responsibility shifts heavily to the government and the state organisation.

A victory would allow the leadership to argue that the BJP's symbol and organisation are stronger than any individual leader. A defeat would inevitably raise questions about whether the party sacrificed a winnable candidate to manage its internal power equations.

The seat fell vacant after the membership of Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti was terminated following a court-related development. 

The last date for filing nominations is July 13, 2026. Scrutiny will take place on July 14, while candidates may withdraw until July 16. Voting is scheduled for July 30 and counting will take place on August 3.