Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2023: BJP Names PM Modi, Shah, Nadda, Yogi Among 40 Star Campaigners For Phase-1

A list of 40 star campaigners Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2023 shared by the state BJP unit features Prime Minister Narendra Modi, JP Nadda, Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath.

Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2023: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced a star-studded lineup of campaigners for the first phase of the Chhattisgarh assembly polls featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi followed by party chief JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

A list of 40 star campaigners shared by the Chhattisgarh unit and released by the central BJP leadership in Delhi, also features other party bigwigs such as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Dharmendra Pradhan, Smriti Irani, Mansukh Mandaviya and Anurag Singh Thakur.

Another notable name in the list is that of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who himself faces a stiff competition at home as MP also goes to polls on November 17 this year.

Among the senior Chhattisgarh BJP leaders named as star campaigners are the party’s state chief Arun Sao, former CM Raman Singh, MPs Santosh Pandey and Guharam Ajgalle, and MLA Brijmohan Agrawal.

Sharing the list with the Election Commission of India, the BJP said in a letter that “this list may be treated as valid for the remaining assembly constituencies figuring in the second phase of polling for Chhattisgarh, unless it forwards an amended list for the remaining phase within the prescribed time limit”.

The state will go to polls in two phases on November 7 and November 17, while votes will be counted on December 3.

Of the total 90 constituencies in the state, 20 seats falling in seven districts of Naxalite-affected Bastar division and Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Rajnandgaon, Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai, and Kabirdham districts will go to polls in the first phase.

The remaining 70 constituencies will see polling in the second phase.

The opposition BJP has so far announced candidates for 86 seats, while the ruling Congress has declared names in 83 constituencies.

In the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress had won in 17 of these constituencies, while BJP had ended up with two and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) one. Congress later won two more seats of the remaining three in bypolls.

Prominent candidates to contest from the BJP for the November 7 elections are Raman Singh and former state ministers Kedar Kashyap, Lata Usendi, Vikram Usendi and Mahesh Gagda, apart from ex-IAS officer Neelkanth Tekam.

State Congress chief and MP Deepak Baij, ministers Kawasi Lakhma and Mohan Markam are among the governing party’s key candidates in the first phase.

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.

(With PTI inputs)