Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections: Congress 3rd List OUT, 4 Sitting MLAs Dropped

Sunday's list completes the ruling party's announcement of candidates for all the 90 seats in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections.

Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections: The Congress has denied tickets to four sitting MLAs while also renominating two other incumbent lawmakers, according to the third list released by the party on Sunday for the remaining seven seats for the upcoming Chhattisgarh assembly elections.

Sunday’s list completes the ruling party’s announcement of candidates for all the 90 assembly constituencies in the state, which will go to polls in two phases on November 7 and 17. Votes will be counted on December 3.

The Congress has denied tickets to 22 of 71 sitting Congress MLAs this time.

Of the seven seats, one each is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste categories. Candidates belonging to the Other Backward Class (OBC) have been fielded in three of the other five general seats.

Four women candidates, including a sitting MLA, are on the Congress’ third list. In all, the party has given tickets to 14 women.

Sitting MLAs Ambica Singh Deo, the granddaughter of the erstwhile king of Koriya, and Kuldeep Juneja have been fielded from their incumbent seats Baikunthpur and Raipur North, respectively.

The candidates who have been fielded in place of four sitting legislators are Chaturi Nand (Saraipali-SC), Ambika Markam (Sihwaha), Sandeep Sahu (Kasdol) and Rashmi Chandrakar (Mahasamund).

The party has fielded Omkar Sahu from the Dhamtari seat which it could not win in the 2018 elections. Of these five candidates, except for ex-MLA Markam, the others are new faces.

Sandeep Sahu is chairman of the Congress-governed state’s Telghani Vikas Board, while Omkar Sahu is chairman of Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti Dhamtari.

Rashmi Chandrakar is the president of the Mahasamund district unit of Congress.

Of the 90 candidates from Congress, 33 are from ST, 29 from OBC, 10 from SC and 15 from general categories, while three are minorities.

The BJP has so far announced candidates for 86 seats.

The Congress registered a landslide victory in the 2018 polls winning 68 seats, and comfortably formed the government. The BJP was reduced to 15 seats, while the JCC (J) and the BSP bagged 5 and 2 seats, respectively. The current strength of the Congress is 71.

The Congress has set a target of winning 75 seats this time, according to party leaders.

(With PTI inputs)