Congress releases first list of candidates for Telangana, MP, Chhattisgarh elections

The Congress announced its first list of party candidates for the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana assembly elections on Sunday (October 15).

While the party announced 144 party candidates for Madhya Pradesh elections, it announced 30 candidates for Chhattisgarh polls and another 55 for Telangana assembly polls slated next month. The announcement came a day after the party’s Central Election Committee met to finalise candidates at the AICC office in New Delhi on Saturday (October 14).

Madhya Pradesh

In Madhya Pradesh, the party has nominated former Chief Minister and PCC president Kamal Nath to contest from his home turf – Chhindwara assembly constituency.

Jaivardhan Singh, the son of former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, has been chosen to run for the Raghigath seat. He was a minister in the previous Kamal Nath government. Digvijaya’s brother Lakshman Singh has been fielded from Chachoura. Former Chief Minister Arjun Singh’s son Ajay Singh Rahul will contest from Churhat assembly seat.

In the first list, Congress has announced candidates in 30 ST community constituencies and 22 SC community seats. Congress has fielded Vikram Mastal from the Budhni assembly constituency where he is pitted against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Besides, Congress has announced the names of Jitu Patwari from Rau, Hemant Katare from Ater and Vikrant Bhuria from Jhabua.

The Kamal Nath government collapsed in March 2020 when Jyotiraditya Scindia along with over 20 MLAs led a rebellion against the Congress and joined the BJP. The Congress is bidding to wrest power from the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra already holding a clutch of rallies in the state.

Chhattisgarh

In Chhattisgarh, the party has fielded Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from the Patan assembly constituency while Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo has been retained from his bastion, Ambikapur.

Baghel has represented Patan since 2003 and served as the Chhattisgarh Congress chief from 2014 to 2019. He will be facing his distant nephew and BJP leader Vijay Baghel in the Patan seat. Congress leader Amarjeet Bhagat has been fielded from the Sitapur assembly constituency from where he has won four times.

Fourteen out of 30 candidates announced in Chhattisgarh belong to the ST community. Besides, three women have been given tickets. Interestingly, Congress has also given tickets to the MLAs who had been facing anti-incumbency in their seats as per the party’s internal survey.

Congress has fielded Girish Devangan in Rajnandgaon where he will contest senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Raman Singh. Congress leader Tamradhwaj Sahu will contest the polls from Durg (Rural), Ravindra Choubey from Nawagarh, Yashoda Verma from Khairagarh, Vikram Mandavi from Bijapur, Lakheshwar Baghel from Bastar, Deepak Baiji from Chitrakot and K Chavindra Karma from Dantewada.

Telangana

In Telangana, the party has nominated PCC chief Anumala Revanth Reddy as its candidate for the Kodangal assembly seat, while CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu will contest from the Madhira-SC seat.

The party has fielded Uttam Kumar Reddy from Huzurnagar. Among other prominent names are Dasari Seethakka, who will contest from Mulugu, Mynampally Rohit Rao from Medak and Mynampally Hanumanth Rao from Malkajgiri.

Telangana is set to witness a triangular contest between the BJP, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi, and the Congress in the upcoming assembly election. In the previous assembly election held in 2018, BRS managed to win 88 seats out of 119 and had a dominant vote share of 47.4 per cent. Congress came a distant second with 19 seats. Its vote share was 28.7%.

While Chhatisgarh assembly polls will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17, Madhya Pradesh elections will be held on November 17. Telangana assembly polls be held on November 30. The results will be declared on December 3.