Bhopal, Jun 20 (IANS): Congress candidate for the July 10 Amarwara bypoll in Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district -- Dheeransha Invati -- on Thursday filed his nomination for the upcoming electoral contest.

The Congress on Wednesday announced Invati's name as the party nominee against BJP's Kamlesh Shah.

Madhya Pradesh unit Congress chief Jitu Patwari, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Umang Singhar and former state Cabinet minister Sajjan Singh Verma, along with several party leaders accompanied Invati during the nomination filing process.

Veteran Congress leader and former chief minister Kamal Nath, who was also expected to accompany Invati on Thursday, however, was not present.

Kamal Nath on Wednesday, through a social media post, appealed to the people of Amarwara to support Invati.

BJP's nominee for the July 10 bypoll, Kamlesh Shah, had already filed his nomination papers in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state unit BJP chief V.D. Sharma on Tuesday.

Kamlesh Shah, a Congress-turned-BJP leader, is a three-time MLA from Amarwara Assembly constituency. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Shah switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and also resigned as a Congress legislator, necessitating the by-election.

The Congress won all seven assembly seats of Chhindwara district in the November 2023 Assembly polls.

However, Kamlesh Shah moving to the BJP camp and resigning as Congress MLA necessitated the by-election.