The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has expelled 39 leaders from the party's primary membership for six years for contesting the upcoming state assembly elections against the party's official candidates, its functionary said.

These 39 leaders were expelled from the Congress on the directives of the party' state unit chief Kamal Nath, a release issued by the party's state vice-president Rajiv Singh said.

These expelled leaders are contesting elections either as independent candidates or on the ticket of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), it said.

Some of the prominent names against whom the action was taken include former MP Premchand Guddu (Alot), former MLA Antar Singh Darbar (Mhow), former MLA Yadvendra Singh (Nagod), state party spokesman Ajay Singh Yadav (Khargapur), Nasir Islam (Bhopal North) and Amir Aqueel (Bhopal North).

Elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly will be held on November 17.

While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is striving to remain at the helm, the opposition Congress is endeavouring to push the saffron party out of power.

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