Chhattisgarh: Cong declares candidates for 4 LS seats; MLA facing ED probe in fray

Raipur, Mar 26 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday declared its candidates for the remaining four Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh and the list features an MLA who is facing an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe, and two women.

With this, the main opposition party has announced candidates for all the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state, which will vote in three phases in April-May. The BJP has also announced all its candidates in the state.

The four Congress candidates are Devender Singh Yadav (Bilaspur), Biresh Thakur (Kanker-Scheduled Tribe reserved), Shashi Singh (Surguja-ST) and Dr Menka Devi Singh (Raigarh-ST).

Yadav, a second-term legislator, represents the Bhilai Nagar seat in Durg district in the assembly.

Yadav is an accused in the alleged coal levy scam-linked money laundering case being probed by the ED. The state's anti-corruption bureau (ACB) in January this year also registered a case in the alleged coal levy scam based on a report submitted by the ED in which Yadav has been named as accused.

Thakur had unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections from Kanker in 2019. He had then lost to BJP's Mohan Mandavi by a thin margin of 6,914 votes. Thakur's father late Satyanarayan Singh Thakur was the Congress MLA from 1972-1977 from Bhanupratappur in Kanker.

Shashi Singh is a member of the Surajpur Zila Panchayat. Her father late Tuleshwar Singh had served as a minister in the Ajit Jogi-led Congress government (2000-2003) in Chhattisgarh.

Menka Devi Singh hails from the erstwhile Sarangarh royal family. She is the daughter of Raja Nareschandra Singh, who had served as chief minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh.

Her sisters late Rajni Devi Singh and Pushpa Devi Singh had served as Congress Lok Sabha MPs in the past. Menka Devi Singh's another sister Kamla Devi Singh has been an MLA for 18 years.

Three women, including a sitting MP, are among the 11 candidates of the Congress.

The Lok Sabha polls will be held in three phases in the state on April 19, April 26 and May 7 and votes will be counted on June 4.

The Naxal-hit Bastar (Scheduled Tribe) constituency will alone witness polling on April 19 in the first phase of general elections and filing of nominations for the phase started on March 20.

Three constituencies - Kanker (ST), Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund - will vote on April 26 in the second phase, while the remaining seven - Surguja (ST), Raigarh (ST), Janjgir-Champa (SC), Raipur, Durg, Korba and Bilaspur will witness polling on May 7. PTI